Lanakila Baptist seventh-grader Maria Fischer put in a rock-solid performance last night by correctly spelling "onyx" and capturing the Leeward District spelling bee championship.
Maria, 12, outspelled 19 other students to win the bee, which was held at the Kapolei Middle School cafeteria. Maria, as well as runner-up Tracy Alambatin, will represent the district in the state spelling bee championship March 31 in Honolulu.
After Tracy misspelled "dereliction," Maria spelled "satiety" and then "onyx" to win the title. Maria said she wasn’t really nervous as she breezed through nine rounds of competition.
Maria is the daughter of Stanley and Becky Fischer. Tracy, 13, is an eighth-grader at ‘Ilima Intermediate and the daughter of Henry and Lilia Alambatin.
The Hawai‘i spelling bee champion wins a trip to Washington to compete in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee. The trip is sponsored by The Advertiser.
The state champion also will receive a Merriam-Webster’s Third New International Dictionary; a $200 Sears merchandise certificate; a Radio Shack CD player; a $100 U.S. savings bond from Samuel Louis Sugarman; a Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee gift certificate; and, for the winner’s parents, a $20 Tesoro Hawai‘i gift certificate.
The winner’s school will receive a computer and printer from CompUSA and a World Book Millennium 2001 Multimedia Reference Library from the Hawai‘i Court Reporters Association.
