Courtesy of Craig Shove, Turner School District
At the Wyandotte County Spelling Bee on Feb. 1, 2013 held in the Turner School District, one of the school district's own students conquered the bee and kept the trophy inside Turner.
Diego Acosta, a Turner Middle School seventh grade student, was declared the winner.
Winning came to Acosta only after correctly spelling “raucous” and being the only speller in the contest not to have misspelled any word presented to him/her.
Acosta has been his school’s representative in the WYCO Spelling Bee for the last three years, as has the runner‐up speller, Emma Campbell, who represented Sumner Academy in the Kansas City, Kan., Public Schools District.
In prior years, Acosta represented Oak Grove Elementary (Turner) and Campbell represented White Church Elementary. Taking the second runner‐up position in the event was Isaiah Eaton, who attends Piper Middle School.
This year’s spelling bee took over an hour and a half to complete which, if data were being kept on such numbers, would almost surely be a record.
In the words of WYCO Spelling Bee Coordinator, Elly Morris: “No one remembers a county spelling bee contest going through more rounds than this one did last Friday. The 18 spellers that came to compete this year were, one and all, exceptional spellers. In the final rounds, the competition was more intense than it has been in a very long time.”
By virtue of winning the Wyandotte County contest, Acosta has qualified to compete in the Sunflower Regional Spelling Bee which is held this year at Fort Hays State University in Hays, Kan., on March 2, 2013.
If Acosta cannot or chooses not to participate, the privilege passes to Campbell.
Participants in the 2013 Wyandotte County Spelling Bee (by school district) were:
Turner USD #202 – Daniel Agustin‐ Sanchez (Turner Sixth Grade Academy), Cyra Chronister (Junction Elementary), Emily Bowline (Midland Trail Elementary), Kayleen Lindsay (Oak Grove Elementary), William Allen (Turner Elementary), Diego Acosta (Turner Middle School)
Piper USD #203 ‐ Isaiah Eaton (Piper Middle School), Andrew Flory (Piper Elementary School); Bonner Springs USD #204 – MacKenzie Russell (Bonner Springs Elementary); Poneak Alongkornvilai (Delaware Ridge Elementary); Abby Vaughn (Edwardsville Elementary), Bella Thomas (Clark Middle School)
Kansas City USD #500 – Mikaila Line (White Church Elementary), Lilliana Leiva (Central Middle School), TaVaughn Sappington(Rosedale Middle School), Emma Campbell (Sumner Academy)
Private Schools – German Castillo (Christ the King), Adam Wilson (St. Patrick’s School).
