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Warren’s Johnson wins county spelling bee
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Anonymous user Tue Nov 30, 1999 00:00:00 PST
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0 responses 0 comments Elijah Johnson, an eighth-grader at Earl Warren Junior High School, correctly spelled “bibliogony” in the 16th round winning the 29th annual Kern County Spelling Bee held Feb. 8 at University Square.
Johnson outlasted Sophia Valdez, a fifth-grader at Palla Elementary School, to win. After Valdez missed on “aranea,” Johnson correctly spelled “loquacious” to win the round and then “bibliogony” to win the competition.
“I got really nervous when I heard it was the championship round,” Johnson said. “It was a total guess on both words. On loquacious, I almost went with ‘c-q’ before I thought about the word ‘eloquent’ and that helped me work out the correct spelling. I knew other words that ended in ‘g-o-n-y,’ so that helped me spell bibliogony, but I thought I had spelled it incorrectly. I looked around, and everyone was clapping. Then, I started smiling.”
Bibliogony is a noun which means “of or relating to the production of books in all their forms.”
Johnson overcame the challenge of 16 other fourth- through eight-grade spellers, the best from a pool of approximately 50,000 students in Kern County. By winning, Johnson earned a trip to Washington, D.C. where he will represent the county at the 80th Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 30 and 31.
“I am really excited to be going to Washington, D.C. where I know I will be up against a lot of students who will really be studying hard to win, just like me,” Johnson said.
Johnson received two round-trip airline tickets to the competition with hotel accommodations and $300 from The Bakersfield Californian.
First- through third-place finalists were awarded trophies, and all received gift certificates from Russo’s Books.
The Kern County Superintendent of Schools, The Bakersfield Californian, Scripps-Howard Newspapers, and the Kern Reading Association sponsored the competition. As it was about to begin, County Superintendent English and Language Arts Coordinator and hostess of the event Teresa Twisselman told the students about her youth experiences as a junior high bee competitor and offered some advice.
“The words you are studying this year were much more difficult than when I competed,” Twisselman said. “Remember only one student can win. Try not to be disappointed if it is not you. We are all so proud of what you have accomplished to be here. I hope you can see the connection between what you have learned and how you can apply it to your future studies. This year the national competition is using the ‘Spell It’ book by Merriam Webster, which is a good learning tool, providing tips on how to spell words based on language of origin.”
Johnson had some winning techniques of his own.
“I studied from a giant dictionary, learning as many words as possible,” Johnson said. “I looked at the words, spelled them in my head and then looked away from the dictionary and tried to spell them. I practiced for two hours a day. For the national competition, I will probably study even longer.”
The order of finish was: first place, Elijah Johnson of Warren Junior High School; second place, Sophia Valdez of Palla Elementary School; third place, Sahar Ali of Washington Middle School; Matthew Buccat of Norris Middle School; Natalie Cone of Jacobsen Middle School; Lawrence Meddela of Our Lady of Perpetual Help School; and Alex Meza of Chipman Junior High School; fourth place, Bernard Jee of Tevis Junior High School; fifth place, Shaquille Foronda of Morningside School; sixth place,  Alexis Tolliver of   Thomas Jefferson Middle School; seventh place, Shawnee Whitted of Beardsley Junior High School; eighth place, Phillip Anaya of Lincoln Junior High; Dulce Angulo of Frank West Elementary; and Angie Rowe of Wallace Middle School; ninth place, Antonio Ochoa of Mountain View Middle School; 10th place, Sowmya Jothikumar of Murray Middle School; and 11th place, Gabrielle Garcia of Thorner Elementary School.

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