Whiz Kids: Five Students Are Top Finishers At Monrovia Day Spelling Bee

Who: Monrovia students Aira Villareal (1st place, Santa Fe Middle School); Dulce Yang (2nd place, Santa Fe Middle School);  Ray Evangelista (3rd place, Calvary Road Baptist Academy);  Chris Corona-Martinez (4th place, Santa Fe Middle School); and Emma McIntosh (5th place, Clifton Middle School).

Accomplishment: Aira Villareal, Dulce Yang, Ray Evangelista, Chris Corona-Martinez, and Emma McIntosh were the top five student winners in Saturday’s Monrovia Day Spelling Bee at the .

Key To Awesomeness:  The top placing students, Aira Villareal (1^st), Dulce Yang (2^nd), Ray Evangelista (3^rd), Chris Corona-Martinez (4^th), and Emma McIntosh (5^th), were five out of 36 students to compete in the spelling bee. The 36 students were chosen from six different Monrovia schools (, , , ,, and ) which also held school-wide spelling bees to select the participants. According to the event’s program, "This city-wide spelling bee was inspired by Mayor Mary Ann Lutz to promote the relationship between the and the schools in Monrovia. It is a coordinated effort between Monrovia Unified School District teachers, the City of Monrovia, and the Monrovia Public Library Teen Advisory Board."

The spelling bee lasted four hours, and the final two students spelled down for about a half an hour before the winners were announced. Students used note pads and pencils to write down words. For most of the match, the spellers were able to ask for the words’ definitions, alternate pronunciations, language of origin, and how the word would be used in a sentence. Some of the more unusual words the spelling bee participants successfully spelled were obloquy, roux, douthily, and oophagous. The top five winners went home with books autographed by their authors as prizes, donated by .

The event’s spell master was Catherine McCallum, and Jo Porter, June Richetts, and Dennis Sanchez served as the judges. The 36 spelling bee participants were: Kirk Arce, Joaquin Barbosa, Simran Bhatia, Aldrin Cericos, Loucine Chaparian, Lillybeth Chavez, Chris Corona-Martinez, Nicholas Davenport, Samantha DeWolf, Jessica Doolan, Isabella Dominguez, Ray Evangelista, Nazonn Fernandez, Ian Flores, Jesus Galen Avila, Dylan Gibson, Wyatt Gray, Kayla Hall, Lennon Holden, Carissa Ip, Christian Mah, Emma McIntosh, Adriana Mendez, Cat Moran, Coulter Mulvihill, Rebecca Sandoval, Ryan Schroeder, Joelyn Valencia, Consuelo Venegas, Aira Villareal, Al Villareal, Mona Wang, Chloe Williamson, Dulce Yang, Amittai Zamora, and Asaph Zamora.