Samuel made it through two rounds advancing to the third round where he missed the word “viaticum.” Words in the earlier rounds included “podotheca,” “ululant” and “variscite” among others. A sixth grader at Golden Elementary in Placentia, Samuel competed against many other students who are older, including seventh and eighth grade students. Sixty-six percent were 13-years or older while 34 percent were Samuel’s age or younger. Some of them have also previously competed in the national competition.
The National Scripps Spelling Bee competition was held the week of May 26. Finals of the Spelling Bee will be telecast on ESPN3 on Thursday. A link is posted below.
To advance to the national competition, Samuel won the Orange County Spelling Bee held in March which is sponsored by the Orange County Register and coordinated by the Orange County Department of Education. Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified students won three of the top five spots. Many of the competitors were winners of their school Spelling Bees. The winner emerged after 23 rounds of competition lasting five hours.
Congratulations to Samuel for winning the Orange County Spelling Bee and advancing through several rounds of the national competition.
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Photo: Samuel is pictured on the left along with his teacher Kristi Cooan and Amber Huynh, also from Golden Elementary, who won 4th place in the county’s Spelling Bee. Megan Loh from Tynes Elementary School finished in 5th place at the county competition.
Telecast of Nationals (Round 2 Preliminaries) on ESPN3 online: