Santa Fe Standard

Santa Fe Public School students demonstrated their spelling abilities at the Santa Fe County Spelling Bee on January 17th, held at the Academy for Technology and the Classics (ATC). This annual event brought together top spellers from across the county in a competition that tested their linguistic skills.

The competition extended over 22 rounds. Joshua Bala, an eighth-grader from Mandela International Magnet School, achieved second place, while Bhavithsai Gurram, an eighth-grader from ATC, claimed first place. In the penultimate round, Bala was eliminated by the word "priory." Gurram then spelled "Cleopatra" correctly and proceeded to spell "mistletoe" flawlessly in the final round to secure his victory as county champion.

Moderator Meredith Madri praised all participants: "All of these students here today are champions," she said. "They all work very, very hard. And I want to really honor the fact that this is about so much more than spelling. It takes so much confidence and poise to come up here in front of a room full of strangers, stand at a microphone, and be put on the spot to spell the word."

The top three spellers have qualified for the New Mexico State Spelling Bee but must first participate in a virtual State Qualifying Test on February 28th. The top 25 spellers from this test will move on to compete in April's state spelling bee with hopes of advancing to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.