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Cooper Komatsu
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Joshua Nisenson
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Winners Cooper, Joshua and Yvette pose with Marcia Antopol of the Fineschriber Family Foundation, and three School Board members, Sue Robins, President Laura Chardiet and Kathy Paspalis. Photos, Geoff Maleman.
Cooper Komatsu stood tall and confidently spelled the word a-p-p-r-e-h-e-n-s-i-o-n to take home the ninth annual School District Spelling Bee title on Monday evening at Lin Howe Elementary. The sixth-grader from the Middle School finished atop 23 other spellers, four from each of the District’s five elementary schools and the City Middle School competed.
Cooper certainly has a talent for spelling.
Two years ago, Cooper and his partner, Lily Haines from Indiana, finished seventh in the nation in the 2012 National School Scrabble Championship in Orlando. The tournament featured the best young Scrabble players in grades 4 to 8 from throughout the United States and Canada. Cooper was the first fourth-grader ever to finish in the tournament’s Top 10.
Last year, after winning the District Spelling Bee, he advanced to the Los Angeles County Spelling Bee, where he finished second, and ultimately to the State Spelling Bee, where he finished as California’s 24th best speller.
“I’ve been spending half an hour each day preparing for the spelling bee since May,” said Komatsu, who said he hopes to advance to the state level again this year.
Cooper took home a first-place trophy this week and a $200 cash prize courtesy of The Fineshriber Family Foundation, which sponsored the event. He will advance to the County Spelling Bee, on Wednesday, March 26, 4 o’clock at Almansor Court, 700 S. Almansor St., Alhambra. The winner will advance to the statewide spelling bee in Sonoma in May.
Marcia Antopol, executive director of The Fineshriber Family Foundation, also presented a trophy and $150 in cash to second-place finisher Joshua Nisenson of the Middle School, and a trophy and $100 to third-place finisher Yvette Soong of La Ballona Elementary.
In addition, each participant received a certificate of commendation signed by Supt. Dave La Rose, congratulating students on reaching the Spelling Bee finals.
The Spelling Bee finalists:
El Marino Language School
Chase McGill • Erik Tjomsland • Kieran Walker • Josef Bingener
El Rincon Elementary
Zayd El Alaoui • Tyson Brazil • Cody Wuan-Tsu Nee • Willow Guy
Farragut Elementary
Lily Xu Gong • Miles Concepcion • Antonio De La Cruz • Jonah Hiraoka
La Ballona Elementary
Iselle Alvarado • Yvette Soong • Elijah Steven • Isaiah Lytle Hernandez
Lin Howe Elementary
Grace Jacobsen • Sophia Coon • Kent Middleton • Ghalia Warren
Middle School
Cooper Komatsu • Felix Martinez • Joshua Nisenson • Darya Treanor
Mr. Maleman may be contacted at gmaleman@aol.com
