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Cooper Komatsu, far right, champion Yeri Kim of La Crescenta, center, and Kearne Permalino of Downey, who was third.
Not surprisingly, Cooper Komatsu loves word games, and as a result, he is going to the state championships Saturday, April 20.
After demonstrating last month that he was the No. 1 speller in the Culver City Unified School District, Master Komatsu, a fifth-grader at El Marino Language Immersion School, this week captured second place in the Los Angeles County spelling bee finals.
Three weeks from tomorrow, in Stockton, he will compete against California’s strongest spellers for an opportunity to go to the Nationals in May.
Yeri Kim of La Crescenta, a sixth-grader in the Glendafle School District, won the No. 1 ranking in the County. The competition lasted 19 rounds, nearly 90 minutes, and she prevailed by correctly spelling “perforate” and “pandiculation.”
At the newspaper’s request, Deborah Komatsu painted a portrait of her spelling bee champion son:
“Cooper is at a Cub Scout event at the moment, so I will speak for him.
Cooper likes word games – especially Scrabble. He also enjoys geography, math and basketball.
“To study for the spelling bees, we would write down interesting words we came upon while reading, practice with iPhone apps while wading through L.A. traffic, and watch YouTube videos of other spelling bees. Former El Marino spelling bee champ Simon Johnson also advised us on what to expect.
“He studies Japanese at El Marino, which doesn't help with Latin or Greek roots, but comes in handy for the occasional Japanese word they use in the bees!”
