arizona news
Has been updated: March 20, 2023 11:12 am
Karen Opoku-Appoh, Spelling Champion of Arizona. (Arizona Education Foundation photo)
The Phoenix-Pima County 8th graders dominated a field of 26 other students to win the Arizona Spelling Bee over the weekend and advance to the late spring national competition.
Marana Middle School’s Karen Opoku-Appoh, 13, won the title Saturday in Phoenix by spelling “passage” correctly. in a press release.
Runner-up Opal Mishra, 12, a sixth grade student at Basha Accelerated Middle School in Chandler, also won the right to represent Arizona at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. The final will be broadcast live on June 1st.
“It takes thousands of hours of hard work to become a champion speller. It’s exciting to see all the students bring their talents to life with the bees,” said Teresa Hill, deputy director of the foundation.
Valley schoolchildren rounded out the top five spellers. Sai Manvik Malreddy, 13, her eighth grader at Explorer Middle School in Phoenix, was her third. Her seventh grader Regina Rascon, 11, at Bogle Middle School in Chandler, was her fourth. His senior year Alrick James, 9, from Phoenix’s Estrella Foothills Global Academy was her fifth.
Opoku-Appoh, Mishra, and their chaperones migrate to a large bee in National Harbor, Maryland, outside Washington.
AEF recently received a $25,000 grant from Phoenix-based nonprofit Thunderbird Charities to support the state’s bees and help the top two winners fly back east.
“I look forward to this event every year and am proud of the hard work and dedication of our students.
