Justin Shin stood tall last night and confidently spelled the word i-n-d-i-g-e-s-t-i-o-n to take home the seventh annual Culver City Unified School District Spelling Bee title on at Robert Frost Auditorium.
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From left, Main Row: runnerup Rikseh Patel, Justin (The Champ) Shin, Alisha Hasan. Big People’s Row: Chuck Martinez of sponsoring Westfield Culver City, Laura Chardiet of the School Board, District Super Patti Jaffe, Kathy Paspalis, Karlo Silbiger and Nancy Goldberg, all of the School Board.
In doing so, the fifth-grader from Farragut Elementary School advanced to the County competition. Jason finished atop 23 other spellers – four students from each of the district’s five elementary schools and Culver City Middle School competed.
Jason took home a first-place trophy and a $250 savings bond courtesy of Westfield Culver City, which sponsored the event. On Wednesday, March 28, he will advance to the County Spelling Bee, starting at 4 o’clock on March 28 at Almansor Court, 700 S. Almansor St., Alhambra. The winner will advance to the state in Sonoma in May.
Westfield also presented a trophy and a $150 savings bond to second-place finisher Rikesh Patel from La Ballona Elementary School; and a trophy and a $100 savings bond to third-place finisher Alisha Hasan from El Rincon Elementary School.
In addition, each participant received a certificate of commendation signed by the District’s superintendent congratulating him or her on reaching the Spelling Bee finals.
Last night’s Spelling Bee will be broadcast on Comcast, Channel 35, and on Verizon Fios, Channel 36, Thursday evening at 7.
The Spelling Bee finalists:
Culver City Middle School: Nicholas Green, Lena Johnson, Collin Nascimento and Maryam Nawaz
El Marino Language School: Benjamin Vizcarra-Barton, Isabel Berliner, Grace Hirai and Malaika Stambler
El Rincon Elementary School: Bryan Bae, Tanner Duve, Alisha Hasan and Reese Mercado
Farragut Elementary School: Samuel Chuck, Annie-Jewel Foxworth, Jerry Quesnel and Justin Shin
La Ballona Elementary School: David Aguirre, Felix Martinez, Felicity Mason and Rikesh Patel
Linwood E. Howe Elementary School: Jesse Castillo, Sierra Chabola, Aubrey Ebanks and Ruby Walsleban.