CYPRESS TEXAS — Salyards Middle School sixth-grade student Shawn Ray won first place by correctly spelling the word oaxaca in the 24th round of the annual districtwide Middle School Spelling Bee, held Feb. 7 at the Berry Center.
Spillane Middle School eighth-grade student Mihir Bhatia was the runner-up participant. Both Ray and Bhatia will compete in the Houston Public Media Spelling Bee, which is scheduled to be televised March 23 from the University of Houston.
Salyards Middle School sixth-grade student Shawn Ray correctly spelled the word oaxaca in the 24th round of the Middle School Spelling Bee on Feb. 7 to clinch the championship.
“Our middle school spellers were at their very best on Thursday evening which made our district spelling bee a resounding success,” said Sarah Price, CFISD secondary English technology curriculum coach. “The three-and-a-half-hour competition went to round 24 before we had a winner. All of the students showed how well prepared they were and should be very proud of their accomplishments. In addition to being part of a keen competition, our spellers participated in a valuable learning experience, acquiring an expansive knowledge of words and their meanings while gaining a richer vocabulary and a higher level of literacy. Thanks to our parents and teachers as well for their support of our middle school spellers. I applaud all of our participants for their hard work and dedication.”
Spillane Middle School eighth-grade student Mihir Bhatia celebrates advancing to the Houston Public Media Spelling Bee after the CFISD Middle School Spelling Bee on Feb. 13 at the Berry Center.
Nearly 60 spellers will qualify for the spelling bee from across the greater Houston area. The top two spellers will qualify for the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C., May 27-30.
For more information, visit http://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/education/spelling-bee/.
The Spelling Bee champions who represented their respective middle schools at the district competition are:
| Campus | Participants | Campus Coordinator(s) |
| Anthony | Ben Foley and Simran Patel | Amanda Mahon |
| Aragon | Nitya Kodali and Sindhya Selvarajan | Teri Tidmore and Alyssa DuPree |
| Arnold | Gurkiran Pandher and Zechariah Martin | Karen Green |
| Bleyl | Ananya Sriramsankar and Syed Hassan | Victoria Evans |
| Campbell | Zephanie Reyna and Jaimie Nguyen | Krista Hays |
| Cook | Rukayat Reza and Miriam Kinney | Antoinette James |
| Dean | Charlie Tran and Marcus Guillen | Katie Boyer and Kelli Coleman |
| Goodson | Rahul Rathan and Anagha Sreenivasan | Mandi Toumbs |
| Hamilton | Madhuvanthi Fernando and Sanvi Kumpatla | Lisa Herrmann |
| Hopper | Laina Muradzikwa and Lylia Strong | David Weldon |
| Kahla | Hena Singh and Djibril Baray | Trisha Samuels |
| Labay | Alia Maharoof and Sedona Nguyen | Kay McDowell |
| Salyards | Shawn Ray and Kory Farquar | Brooke Pierron |
| Smith | Sumedhaa Socraties and Dylan Lee | Amy Silva |
| Spillane | Mihir Bhatia and Saran Sundar | Tara Magallan |
| Thornton | Morolaoluwa Ajuwon and Abigail Mejia | Rochelle Chavis |
| Truitt | Alonso Aguilar and Howard Kim | Marlene Pennington |
| Watkins | Ian Grimaldi and Annie Nguyen | Christopher Patten |
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