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“ Can we just call it a tie ?” asked Antioch Elementary fourth grader Daniel Wei after successfully completing 31 of the 34 total rounds of the 2017 UCPS Spelling Bee championship .
The number of rounds ( 34 ) that it took before the champion finally won the title of 2017 UCPS Spelling Bee Champion broke all previous UCPS Spelling Bee records .
To give yesterday ’ s fierce competition perspective , last year ’ s spelling bee winner took the championship title after 16 rounds ; 2015 champion - 12 rounds ; 2014 champion - 23 rounds ; and 2013 champion - 20 rounds .
Daniel won by correctly spelling the word “ aquarelle ,” a noun that means a watercolor drawing or painting .
“ I was very surprised I won ,” Daniel said . “ I ’ ve never heard of aquarelle before . I just guessed .”
“ I was a little bit surprised , too , because we went through the spelling word list , but the last words were not on the list ,” said Daniel ’ s mother , Yongmei Chen . “ I don ’ t know how he got those . The runner-up was Harini Rajakumar , a third grader from
Weddington Elementary . “ Even though I didn ’ t go all the way , I feel
ANTIOCH ELEMENTARY Daniel Wei , 4th grade
BENTON HEIGHTS ELEMENTARY Jadyn Rowdy , 4th grade
CUTHBERTSON MIDDLE Abhishek Suresh , 8th grade
EAST ELEMENTARY Raul Zeferino , 3rd grade
EAST UNION MIDDLE India Middleton , 7th grade
FAIRVIEW ELEMENTARY Wilson Zelch , 5th grade
HEMBY BRIDGE ELEMENTARY Jake Fowler , 5th grade
UCPS 2017 Spelling Bee breaks record with 34 rounds
NEW SALEM ELEMENTARY Jayden Thomas , 5th grade
NEW TOWN ELEMENTARY Saket Bellala , 5th grade
PARKWOOD MIDDLE Anthony Squires , 8th grade
PIEDMONT MIDDLE Jill Tice , 7th grade
POPLIN ELEMENTARY Joey Lohr , 3rd grade
2017 UCPS Spelling Bee winner Daniel Wei and runner-up Harini Rajakumar receive their trophies from Superintendent Houlihan . really proud with how far I ’ ve gone ,” she said after the competition .
Harini held on until the word “ Adirondack ” finally stumped her . The word is a United States geographical name , Mohawk in origin , meaning porcupine .
UCPS Superintendent Dr . Andrew Houlihan gave the winning trophies to Daniel and Harnini . “ I was beginning to think that there wasn ’ t a word that those two didn ’ t know how to spell ,” he said .
Then , addressing the entire group , he added , “ If you ’ ve made it this far , you ’ re the champion for your school . It ’ s quite an honor . We want to celebrate you and thank you for your hard work and for your participation in our spelling bee . Congratulations to our runner-up and our champion . I have a feeling we ’ ll be seeing them for many years to come .”
Daniel represented UCPS at the 63rd annual Charlotte Observer Regional Spelling Bee held on Feb . 27 at ImaginOn in Charlotte .
— This article was provided by the Union County Public Schools Communications Office .
Forty schools participated in the competition . Below is a complete list of participants .
PORTER RIDGE ELEMENTARY Gage Preslar , 5th grade
PORTER RIDGE MIDDLE Isaac Dinh , 7th grade
SHILOH ELEMENTARY Christopher Cornejo , 4th grade
SOUTH PROVIDENCE Walker Vaillancourt II , 8th grade
STALLINGS ELEMENTARY Zach Dieffenbach , 5th grade
SUN VALLEY ELEMENTARY Siddhartha Gupta , 5th grade
SUN VALLEY MIDDLE Justin Jenkins , 7th grade
UNION ELEMENTARY Imani Harris , 5th grade
UNIONVILLE ELEMENTARY Livio Santana-Campos , 5th grade
WALTER BICKETT ELEMENTARY Carolina Castro , 5th grade
WAXHAW ELEMENTARY Andrew Allers , 5th grade
WEDDINGTON ELEMENTARY Harini Rajakumar , 3rd grade
WEDDINGTON MIDDLE Mehak Chopra , 8th grade
WESLEY CHAPEL ELEMENTARY Ada Thompson , 5th grade
WESTERN UNION ELEMENTARY Gabrielle Howes , 5th grade
WINGATE ELEMENTARY Mason Ford , 5th grade
INDIAN TRAIL ELEMENTARY Stella Rivituso , 5th grade
KENSINGTON ELEMENTARY Dhruva Kritam , 3rd Grade
MARSHVILLE ELEMENTARY Cody Stewart , 5th grade
MARVIN ELEMENTARY Robert Fan , 5th grade
MARVIN RIDGE MIDDLE Sanjay Ravindran , 8th grade
MONROE MIDDLE Ariana Long , 6th grade
PROSPECT ELEMENTARY Savannah Goins , 4th grade
REA VIEW ELEMENTARY Henry Smith , 3rd grade
ROCK REST ELEMENTARY Caleb Foster , 5th grade
ROCKY RIVER ELEMENTARY Maddison Patterson , 4th grade
SANDY RIDGE ELEMENTARY Meera Patel , 5th grade
SARDIS ELEMENTARY Garrett Lents , 3rd grade
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Parent Teacher Magazine • Mar / Apr 2017 • 9