Stanislaus County junior high spellers beat ‘onomatopoeia’ to advance

“Onomatopoeia,” the word for words made from sounds, and “reconnaissance” were among the words Stanislaus County junior high spellers beat to move on to the state competition.

Liah Kim of Prescott Junior High School in north Modesto and Sam Victorio of Oakdale Junior High, both eighth-graders, won the 2014-15 Junior High Spelling Championship held last week, sponsored by the Stanislaus County Office of Education.

Both will represent Stanislaus County at the state competition in San Rafael in May. Eighth-grader Frances Haydock of Turlock Junior High qualified as alternate.

Retired educator Harry Bakker served as the spelling master, with 22 volunteers helping out as proctors for 36 students participating. See the list of individual Stanislaus County winners at www.modbee.com.

The 2014-15 Merced County Spelling Bees will be held Dec. 2-3. Students in fourth, fifth and sixth grades will compete at 9 a.m. Dec. 2 at the Atwater Community Center, 760 E. Bellevue Road, Atwater. Junior high students will compete at 9 a.m. Dec. 3 at the Merced County Office of Education’s Clark/Newbold conference rooms, 632 W. 13th St., Merced.

This story was originally published November 23, 2014 at 9:08 AM with the headline "Stanislaus County junior high spellers beat ‘onomatopoeia’ to advance."