Standing tall, Simon Johnson confidently spelled the word d-e-h-y-d-r-a-t-i-o-n last night to take home the fifth annual Culver City Unified School District Spelling Bee at Robert Frost Auditorium.
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Second-place finisher Elise Park, left, with winner Simon Johnson.
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From left, Sarah Richardson of Westfield; Natasha Collier; Elise Park; Simon Johnson; Supt. Dr. Myrna Rivera Coté; and Chuck Martinez, General Manager of Westfield Culver City.
A fifth-grader at El Marino Language School, Simon finished ahead of 23 other spellers, including last year’s champion, Natasha Collier. Four students from each of the District’s five elementary schools and the Middle School competed.
“I’ve come to the District Bee in the years before, so I knew what to expect,” said 10-year-old Simon. “I’ve really been practicing since third-grade. But once I knew I was going to be in the District Bee, I only practiced two or three times.”
Todd Johnson, Simon’s father, said his son inherited his spelling genes from his mother’s side of the family. “I like to say that I passed on my spelling genes completely unused,” Mr. Johnson said. “He and his mother have kept a list of the crazy words they come across in the newspaper or on NPR. Every time they see one, they look it up and write it down.”
Susan Collins, Simon’s mother, helped her son study even though she was trapped in blizzard conditions back East.
“She was caught in the snow in Baltimore, but she called in and quizzed him over the phone,” Mr. Johnson said.
The strategy obviously worked.
Simon took home a first-place trophy and a $250 savings bond from Westfield Fox Hills, which sponsored the event. He will advance to the Los Angeles County Spelling Bee, at 4 p.m. on Friday, March 19, at Almansor Court, 700 S. Almansor St., Alhambra. The winner will advance to the statewide spelling bee in Sonoma in May.
Westfield also presented a trophy and a $150 savings bond to second-place finisher Elise Park, also a student at El Marino Language School.
A trophy and a $100 savings bond to third-place finisher Natasha Collier, a student at the Middle School, who won the District Spelling Bee last year.
In addition, each student received a certificate of commendation signed by the District’s superintendent for reaching the Spelling Bee finals.
The District Spelling Bee will be broadcast on television, Channel 35, at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 19, and will be webcast on the city’s website – www.culvercity.org – at the same time.
The finalists included: Middle School: Natasha Collier, Abel (Lucas) Lezcano, Matthew Villena and Nebil Youssef; Lin Howe School: James Castillo, Loren Holmes, Adriana Ortega and Hanif Wright; El Marino Language School: Simon Johnson, Emily Katz, Elise Park and Pavan Tauh; El Rincon School: Anthony Merriweather, Melissa Ramirez, Kevin Sharpe and Robert Washington, II; Farragut Elementary School: Chloe Brown, David Jeong, Abigail Kim and Emily Shin; and La Ballona Elementary School: Mouhamad Alrayes, Hajar Darwish, Tomo Mendoza and Sergio Muñoz.
