Press release

Superintendent of Schools, Barry Simpson, is pleased to announce that Rose Bracken from Home Street Middle School won first place in the Inyo County Spelling Bee, sponsored by Altrusa.

Inyo spelling

Winners of the 43rd annual Inyo County Spelling Bee: Sabino Palestino, Ashley Fitt, Rose Bracken, and Preliminary Competition Pronouncer Ilissa Twomey

Twenty-six students from local elementary and middle schools participated in the 2018-19 countywide Spelling Bee at Jill Kinmont Boothe School. Sixteen students made it to the final rounds. The winners of the competition were:
1st Place Rose Bracken (8th) Home Street Middle School
2nd Place Ashley Fitt (7th) Home Street Middle School
3rd Place Sabino Palestino (7th) Lo Inyo Elementary

After much fierce competition with words like diaphanous, fuliginous, and mulligatawny, the winning word was: colloquialism.

The spelling contestants included: Trinity Diaz, Evan Fuller, and Chayton Patterson from Big Pine; Morgandy Barker, Rose Bracken, Bryce Cokeley, Ashley Fitt, and Robin Linse from Bishop Schools; Ayden Baker, Kaedyn Hilliard, Aiden Kingsford, Sabino Palestino, and Perfecto Valdez from Lone Pine; Julian Carter, Kevin Glenn, Drake Martinez, Noah Reade, and Avy Reilly-Todd from Owens Valley; Madison Benniger, Rylee Delmas, Kyra Maberto, Greg Tordoff, and Bryce Winzenread from Round Valley.

Several students also joined the preliminary competition as alternates to get practice for next year: Branden Gardea from Bishop, as well as Jade Griego and Evelyn Thornburg from Owens Valley.

Thank you to coaches Tim Steele, Meghan Fuchs, Carmen London, Bob Heist, Gemma Arana, and Rory Winzenread for working with their students to prepare them for the bee.

The local Altrusa chapter sponsored the competition. They brought cash prizes and trophies for the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place winners, along with $10 gift cards to Spellbinder Books for all participants.

Andrea Shallcross, Valerie Higgs, and Cheri Stewart attended to judge the competition distribute awards to students. Lynne Almeida and Ilissa Twomey graciously fulfilled the positions of Final Competition Pronouncer and Preliminary Competition Pronouncer respectively.

The Round Valley PTO donated $10 to the “last person standing” from each of the five districts competing. The recipients of those awards were:

Chayton Patterson – Big Pine
Bryce Cokeley – Bishop
Aiden Kingsford – Lone Pine
Kevin Glenn – Owens Valley
Madison Benninger – Round Valley

Representing Inyo County at the Elementary State Bee in May will be Madison Benninger and Kevin Glenn. Rose Bracken and Ashley Fitt will represent Inyo County at the Junior High State Bee in May. Congratulations to all the student participants!

 

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