Students Qualify for State Spelling Bee

The 2024 Countywide Spelling Bee was hosted by the San Benito County Office of Education on February 6, 2024, at the Veteran’s Memorial Building in downtown Hollister. SBCOE Coordinator of Instructional Support, Tony Balbas, coordinated the Spelling Bee. Twenty students qualified for the event in two age groups. Students in grades 4-6 competed in the elementary division while 7^th-9^th grade students were eligible for the middle school division. After more than 15 rounds in each division, the top three spellers were finally selected, a testament to the strength of the competition this year.

The top two spellers in each division qualified for the California State Spelling Bee hosted by the San Joaquin County Office of Education in Stockton, California on April 27, 2024 at the Wentworth Education Center.  This year’s winners are:

4-6^th Elementary Division

1^st place               Marley Murillo*               Accelerated Achievement Academy

2^nd place              Fox Westphal*                 Hollister Dual Language Academy

3^rd place               Elise Gonzalez                  Hollister Prep School

7-9^th Junior High Division

1^st place               Lyla Pulizzi*                       Accelerated Achievement Academy

2^nd place              Miraclin Jebastian*         Hollister High School

3^rd place               Anthony Mirrione           Spring Grove Elementary School

*State Qualifier

The San Benito County Office of Education would like to thank our judges: Mayor Mia Casey, Supervisor Angela Curro, Supervisor Mindy Sotelo and Assistant Superintendent Shannon Hansen and our Spelling Bee Master, Kim O’Connor as well as the VFW Post 9242/American Legion Post 69 for allowing us to use their facility.