Spellers advance to next round of bee

Champions. C-H-A-M-P-I-O-N-S. Champions.

Claire Robertson of Harbor View Elementary, Alyssa Snider of Killybrooke Elementary and Julian Jackson-Brunning of Sonora Elementary were honored this week for being the top sixth-grade spellers in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

The words that determined the winners?” “Dirge,” “radiology” and “thesaurus.”

A total of 38 sixth-graders from all over the district competed in the spelling bee.

They reached the oral spelling bee after a written competition.

The bee is used to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabulary, learn concepts and develop correct English usage to use throughout their lives.

The district’s top spellers will go on to the written round of the Orange County Spelling Bee on Feb. 22; the oral round will be Feb. 27.

The top speller at the Orange County competition will win a trip to Washington, D.C., to represent Orange County at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

— Candice Baker