Female Students Prove Their Mettle In Madera Elementary School Spelling Bee

EL CERRITO, CA — Even though there were no pink hats or signs of protest during the 6th Annual Madera Elementary School Spelling Bee, it surprised no one that four female students marched to the winning podium in the 2017 version of the Madera Spelling Bee, finishing first, second and a tie for third ahead of their seventeen well-matched competitors.

As we have come to expect over the years, the competition was both fierce and highly entertaining as the crowd filled with students, parents and teachers lent their equal support to each and every competitor, without bias or prejudice.

Former 5th grade Madera teacher, Eric Danysh, temporarily came out of retirement to host the Madera Bee, capably guiding the spellers and the audience through the reliably captivating spelling bee journey.

It took 16 rounds of spellbinding action for 4th grader Dipaam Hotho to emerge victorious in this year's contest. Dipaam successfully spelled "combination" in the penultimate round and marched to victory by correctly spelling "symbol" in the final round.

Demonstrating her family's prowess for the spelling bee was 5th grader Kate Chu, little sister of 2013 Madera Spelling Bee winner Kristy Chu, who finished a close second, bowing out in the fifteenth round after being tripped up by "oddity" of all words.

Sixth graders Abigail Manila and Anna Du turned in very strong performances in the Madera Bee to finish in a tie for third place. Abigail is no stranger to the Bee as she also finished 3rd in last year's spelling contest.

Dipaam will now move on to the West Contra Costa District Spelling Bee which promises to host a collection of the best spellers district-wide who, if successful, will be that much closer to the Scripps National Spelling Bee Competition in Washington D.C.

The road to the Madera Spelling Bee Finals was as difficult as the final competition, requiring every competitor to qualify by winning one of three spots in their individual classroom competitions. That accomplishment proved quite the challenge as each participating student had to master the seemingly endless list of spelling bee words on this year's spelling bee list.

A congratulations is in order for all of this year's Spelling Bee participants and a special shout out of support for Dipaam as she begins her preparation for the District level Bee."

- This story and photos were submitted for publication by community member and Madera parent Guy Fong

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