M-O-R-A-G-A Well-Represented at County Spelling Bee
Submitted by Shirley DeFrancisci
Los Perales Elementary School winner Sarah Yuan with principal Amy Black -Photos provided
Moraga schools held spelling bees over the past two months and four students were named as the top spellers after several grueling rounds of correctly spelling words that most adults would have difficulty spelling.
Ashley Cloza, a fourth grader, took Rheem Elementary School's top spelling honor as her peers watched and applauded during their school's longest spelling bee on record, which went into "overtime" and lasted one hour. Participants were armed with special "mustache power" bracelets to give them extra confidence during the competition.
At Camino Pablo Elementary, spelling bee participants were introduced to an adoring crowd like rock stars as they took the stage with the Olympics theme song in the background. Tyler Garcia, a fifth grader, won with the tricky herb and homonym, "thyme." Tyler was an active participant during the lunchtime practice sessions leading up to the big day.
At Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School, the winning word, "apocalypse," was spelled by Jeffrey Brown, a seventh grader who won from a panel of 27 students from all grade levels, sixth through eighth. Jeffrey then went on to score in the top half of all spellers at the county competition.
Los Perales Elementary School students experienced déja vu as they cheered on their classmate, Sarah Yuan, a fourth grader who won the Bee for the second year in a row. There were 17 other participants. Sarah coincidentally won the LP contest with the same word that won at JM, "apocalypse," and then she spelled "osculate." Sarah came in 11th place in the County Bee.
The Moraga School District has much to be proud of with these local spelling champs.
Camino Pablo Elementary School winner Tyler Garcia with principal Tom Rust
Joaquin Moraga Intermediate School winner Jeffrey Brown at the County Bee. (Not pictured, Rheem Elementary School winner Ashley Cloza.)
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