One of America’s pastimes is increasing in popularity. It’s not a sport, or a video game. It is the spelling bee, and San Benito County students are joining the craze.
Approximately 156 students entered this year’s County Spelling Bee, held various nights in March. Participation was up by about 50 percent, and has been steadily increasing the past few years, said Kim O’Connor, an educational consultant and the county’s Spelling Bee coordinator for ten years. “The number of students trying out has been consistently rising since we started,” O’Connor said. “We had a huge turnout for the preliminary rounds. It’s really exciting.”
This year’s contest was unusual in another way – for the first time, a fourth grade student took first place in the elementary division. Cooper Scherr, from Sacred Heart Parish School, outlasted the competition to take home the honor.
“That was very cool,” O’Connor said. “It’s never happened before.” Students in grades fourth through eight from schools all around the county attempted to out-spell one another for a chance to participate in the state competition, scheduled for later this month.
“Students are coming from everywhere,” she said. “It’s more than just the big schools. We had students from Bitterwater-Tully Union, Jefferson, home schools, and Chamberlain’s. The private schools were well represented, and Sacred Heart did really, really well. It’s interesting.”
Any student who attends a registered public, private or home school located with San Benito County is allowed to participate in the contest; fourth through sixth graders make up the elementary division while the junior high division is for seventh and eighth graders.
The preliminary rounds of the competition begin with a 50 word written spelling test. Students who score well on the written test are invited to participate in the final round of the competition, which is an oral spelling bee. They are given a sample word list to study, but not all of the words at the spelling bee come from the list.
This year, O’Connor said they had to increase the word list to 850 words because participants are coming to the competition better prepared. “Last year it took 350 words to get them out,” she said. “They are spelling harder and harder words.” O’Connor said many schools are holding individual spelling bees as a way of preparing their students for the county competition. Although the winners of these contests are not automatically entered into the county bee, it does make the students aware of what is expected of them at the county level.
And the winners are…

Elementary Division:
First Place – Cooper Scherr, Sacred Heart School
Second Place – Michael Breen, Sacred Heart School Third Place - Katherine Whorley,
Rancho San Justo Middle School Fourth Place - Kathryn Canepa, San Juan School

Junior High Division:
First Place - Alexandra Whorley,
Rancho San Justo Middle School
Second Place - Hina Moheyuddin, Sacred Heart
Third Place - Blake Selsor, Marguerite Maze School
Fourth Place - Jeanine Madson
Bitterwater-Tully Union School

The top two finalists from each competition are allowed to compete at the state spelling bee, which will be held on May 12 at Miller Creek School in San Rafael for the junior high students and May 19 at Sonoma State University for elementary students. San Benito County has yet to have a student win at the state level.
County Superintendent of Schools Tim Foley and Kim Dryden, the county’s special projects coordinator, help with the competition each year.

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