Spring ISD Spelling Bee winner Lucille Rixner, a fifth grader at Salyers Elementary School, from left, displays her first-place trophy along with Janine Caducoy, an eighth grader from Claughton Middle School, who is the runner-up.
HOUSTON – Feb. 4, 2016 – The pressure was on during the Spring ISD Spelling Bee where more than 30 students from across the district competed for the top-place trophy, which was ultimately won by Lucille Rixner, a fifth grader at Salyers Elementary School.
Rixner took the win after correctly spelling “chronology” but not before first requesting both the definition and the origin of the word, and taking a brief pause to spell it out. Janine Caducoy, an eighth grader from Claughton Middle School, came in as the runner-up.
Dozens of families, teachers, campus administrators and students from Spring ISD came together to support and encourage the contestants, who ranged from third to eighth grades, during the nearly two-hour competition at Dekaney High School’s Star Theater.
All the Spring ISD Spelling Bee contestants were first-place finalists at their respective campus, where they had competed earlier in the school year, in order to advance to the district competition held Feb. 3. Rixner will now move on to represent Spring ISD at the Houston PBS Spelling Bee in March.
The following Spring ISD students won their schools’ spelling bees and competed with Rixner and Caducoy at the district-level spelling bee for the opportunity to advance. They are Benjamin Torres Jr. Marshall Elementary; Hailey Whiteman, Winship Elementary; Moises Hernandez, Bammel Middle; Giuliana Lambur, Anderson Elementary, Anh Nguyen, Thompson Elementary; Daud Duale, Bailey Middle; Michelle Malacara, Dueitt Middle; Alyssa Ferrol, Heritage Elementary; Nazim Saquib, Ponderosa Elementary; Jerard Watkins, Wells Middle; Percy Palacios, Booker Elementary; Heeba Hussain, Major Elementary; Elizabeth Mancilla, Burchett Elementary; Anthony Amaya, Cooper Elementary; Daniel Nguyen, Lewis Elementary; Gabriella Sucacin, Hirsch Elementary; Victoria Araiza, McNabb Elementary; Joselyn Ruiz,Reynolds Elementary; Jannel Calixterio, Bammel Elementary; Peyton Pickett, Northgate Crossing Elementary; Chibueze Onuoha, Hoyland Elementary; Mina Diomande,Eickenroht Elementary; Candida Herrera, Beneke Elementary; Janine Miller, Link Elementary; Bre’Unna Stephens, Clark Intermediate; Zuleyah Minor, Jenkins Elementary; Adora Mordi, Meyer Elementary; Lorenzo Rodriguez Caratao, Smith Elementary; and Ariel Williams, Roberson Middle.