MORENO VALLEY: Corona fifth grader wins Riverside County Spelling Bee

Olivia placed second in 2015.

De Leon’s winning word was vigorously.

Aisha Randhawa, a fifth grader at Garretson Elementary School in Corona, captured the 39th Annual Riverside County Spelling Bee Tuesday, Feb. 23.

8th graders John Byun of St. Cloud and Morgan Paulson of Sauk Rapids-Rice were knocked out of the Multi-Region State Spelling Bee this (Monday) afternoon.

The Washington County Spelling Bee took place Friday morning at the Fort Calhoun high school. The victor this year is Miss Samantha Stone from Glasgow Middle School.

Morgan Paulson (left) and John Byun (right) advance to the State Spelling Bee.

“These students need to know what an honor it is to reach this point”. Members of the team include seventh graders Danielle Auth, Collin Hicks, Courtney Kimble and Jaelyn Sciascia-Penny, and eighth grader Jake Burgess. As the first-place team, Piccowaxen’s team earned a special plaque to display in the school.

Students from 24 schools have been brushing up on their spelling skills and are ready to show how hard they’ve studied.

Students from all Charles County public middle schools and county private schools are invited annually to participate in the event. As the final contestant in the bee, Liu then had to spell two words to clinch the win: antipasto and saboteur.