Spelling bee winners advance to state competition

News release

Four local students have won the right to compete at the state level after coming out on top at the Santa Barbara County Spelling Bee, which was held Thursday at the Santa Barbara County Education Office.

Photographer credit: Luis Medina

Left to right:

Elementary winners Brooks McQueen,

 2^nd place; Katie Hellman, 1^st place;

 and Wendy Benitez Jaramillo, 3^rd place.

Katie Hellman, a sixth grader at Mountain View School in the Goleta Union School District, took first place in the elementary division by correctly spelling “wretchedness.” Brooks McQueen, a sixth grader at Vieja Valley School in the Hope School District, took second place with “inflammable.” Third place went to Wendy Benitez Jaramillo, a sixth grader at Monroe School in the Santa Barbara Unified School District. Her winning word was “perchance.”

Photographer credit: Luis Medina

Left to right:

Junior high winners Matthew Helkey, 

3^rd place; Rhea Kommerell, 1^st place; 

 and Max Lantz, 2^nd place. 

In the junior high division, Rhea Kommerell, an eighth grader from La Colina Jr. High School in the Santa Barbara Unified School District, took first place by correctly spelling “effervescent.” Second place went to Max Lantz, an eighth grader from Vandenberg Middle School in the Lompoc Unified School District. His winning word was “paradigm.” Third place was won by Matthew Helkey, an eighth grader from Trivium Charter School in Lompoc, correctly spelling “loquacious.” The two top winners in each division will proceed to the state level.

Thanks to The Masons Lodge, The Women’s Service Club of Goleta, and Town and Country Women’s Club for their donations. "Rafael Saavedra and Claudia Mazzotti also donated $1000 to the Spelling Bee winners to help defray some of the travel costs to the State Spelling Bee.”

The 2016 Elementary State Spelling Bee, for grades 4 through 6, will be held April 23 at the San Joaquin County Office of Education in Stockton. The 2016 State Junior High Spelling Bee, for grades 7 through 9, will be held May 14 at Miller Creek Middle School in San Rafael.

More information is available from Rose Koller of the Santa Barbara County Education Office at 964-4710, ext. 5222.