Benjamin Wu (center), who won the spelling bee at Huntington Middle School last week, is pictured with (from left) second-place finisher Carla George; teachers Stephanie Moffat and Sheila Doan, the event’s coordinators; and Max Zhou, who took third place.
It came down to the words “guttural” and “fissure,” which Benjamin Wu spelled perfectly to win the spelling bee at Huntington Middle School last week.
Wu, a 6th grader, will now represent San Marino Unified School District at the Los Angeles County Spelling Bee, which will take place on March 18 at Almansor Court Golf Course and Event Center in Alhambra. He prevailed over 31 contestants after 10 rounds. Carla George and Max Zhou, both 6th graders, took second and third place, respectively.
The district’s competing 4th-, 5th- and 6th-graders each got a crack at a word for the first eight rounds, with mistakes leading to instant elimination. Tricky words such as “spaghetti” and “rogue” were spelled correctly, but “cocoon” and “mollify” were among those that stumped some students. In the final two rounds, the contestants had to spell two words correctly — for example, both finalists missed “discomfiture,” so they both got new words.
HMS teachers Sheila Doan and Stephanie Moffat coordinated the bee, with Principal Alana Faure serving as spellmaster.
— Zane Hill
