Three Orange County students advance to Scripps National Spelling Bee in D.C.
Three Orange County master spellers stood under golden confetti, trophies in hand, on Monday as their proud parents applauded, and they reveled in the news they had won spots in the national spelling bee this spring in Washington D.C.
'This is probably the happiest I've ever been in my entire 11 years on this earth,' said Diego Gallegos, 11, a student at Lakemont Elementary School.
Diego, Louis Avetis, a 12-year-old from Discovery Middle School, and Aiden Westover, a 14-year-old from Odyssey Middle School, were the top three finishers in the Orange County Public Schools spelling bee, which featured 25 spellers who'd advanced from competitions at their schools.
The bee lasted eight rounds, with students correctly spelling words such as 'kanji,' a Japanese form of writing, and ended when a student misspelled 'rebarbative', an adjective meaning repellant or irritating.
That left Diego, Louis and Aiden. The Foundation for Orange County Schools sponsored the competition and, as a 'platinum sponsor' of the national bee, can send three winners to Washington.
So the competition then ended and confetti fell on the three remaining competitors.
The three will travel to D.C. in May to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The national bee is a televised event that last year featured 245 spellers from across the country. The winner receives a $50,000 prize from Scripps.
Diego said he enjoyed reading and was working his way through 'Watership Down', a 1972 novel by Richard Adams. Reading helps him learn words and how to spell them, he said.
This year's competition was only Diego's second year competing in spelling bees — he was eliminated in the school-wide round last year.
Louis said he was 'excited' to have made it so far in the competition, and couldn't wait to explore D.C.
Aiden said he's never been to D.C. before and hopes to see the White House during his trip this spring.
He wished the spelling competition Monday had gone on longer.
'I kind of hoped I could go on a little bit further and see if I can get first place,' he said.
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