Get ready to dust off those dictionaries because 24 of the best and brightest students in the Culver City Unified School District are getting ready to S-P-E-L-L their way to the top!
On Feb. 8, four students from each of the district’s five elementary schools and Culver City Middle School will compete in CCUSD’s district-wide spelling bee at Robert Frost Auditorium, 4401 Elenda Street.
The competition, sponsored by Westfield Culver City, will begin at 7 p.m. Admission is free, and the public is invited to attend.
“Every year, millions of students participate in spelling competitions around the country,” said Superintendent Myrna Rivera Coté. “We are excited that we will be having our fourth annual districtwide spelling bee right here in Culver City. It’s a wonderful event that I hope everyone will come and watch.”
The winner of the CCUSD Spelling Bee will advance to the county-wide competition on Friday, March 19 in Alhambra, and the winner from the Los Angeles County competition will advance to the statewide spelling bee on May 15 at Sonoma State University.
In addition, the winner of the CCUSD competition will receive a $250 savings bond, courtesy of Westfield Culver City. Second- and third-place finishers will also receive savings bonds, and every participant will receive a certificate.
All 4th, 5th and 6th-grade students throughout the district will have an opportunity to compete at the school level first, and the top four spellers will advance to the district-wide competition on Feb. 8.
How It Came to Bee
This is the fifth year that the Los Angeles County Office of Education will hold its Los Angeles County Spelling Bee. The first National Spelling Bee was launched by the Louisville, Kentucky, Courier-Journal in 1925. With competitions, cash prizes, and a trip to the nation’s capital, the Bee hoped to stimulate “general interest among pupils in a dull subject.”
The Scripps Howard News Service took over the Bee in 1941. Over the years, the Bee has grown from a mere 9 contestants to the 2005 high of 273. The Los Angeles County Spelling Bee, however, is not associated with the Scripps Howard competition.
Just for fun, check out the winning words that made spellers into national champions in the Scripps Howard event over the past 17 years:
2009: Laodicean
2008: guerdon
2007: serrefine
2006: Ursprache
2005: appoggiatura
2004: autochthonous
2003: pococurante
2002: prospicience
2001: succedaneum
2000: demarche
1999: logorrhea
1998: chiaroscurist
1997: euonym
1996: vivisepulture
1995: xanthosis
1994: antediluvian
1993: kamikaze
What’s your favorite word? Send it to Culver City Crossroads.com and we’ll post it with the definition and a completely complimentary sentence. spelling bee
Be the first to comment