St. Mark student wins Windward spelling bee
By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Staff Writer
KAILUA — Kainoa Vigil, a 7th-grader at St. Mark Lutheran School, spelled "euphoric" and "idiosyncratic" in the final rounds last night to win the Windward District Spelling Bee at Le Jardin Academy.
Minutes before the bee began, Vigil was studying words. The extra effort paid off.
"I thought I was going to be out on the first round," Vigil said, adding that his goal for years was to enter the competition. He beat out 12 other students to take the title.
Vigil and runner-up Stephen Bolger, a St. John Vianney School 7th-grader, advance to The Honolulu Advertiser State Spelling Bee, which will be shown on KFVE-channel 5 at 5 p.m. March 30.
Vigil's parents, Leon and Margaret Pereira, said their son drilled every day for two months, concentrating in the last few days on words he kept missing.
The 14 district winners will receive gifts from Sears, Island Heritage, Consolidated Theatres and Anderson News Co., along with spelling bee merchandise.
Supporting sponsors for this year's state competition are Island Heritage, Aloha Airlines and CompUSA.
The State Spelling Bee champion also wins an expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee in May; a Webster's Third New International Dictionary; a $200 Sears merchandise certificate; a $100 U.S. savings bond from Jay Sugarman; a PDA from Radio Shack; a $100 cash award from Dede and James Sutherland; and a gift basket from Island Heritage.
Travel for Neighbor Island participants is provided by Aloha Airlines.
Here is the schedule for the remaining district bees:
- Maui district, 6 p.m. today, Baldwin High School.
- Hawai'i district, 1 p.m. Saturday, Hilo High School.
- Honolulu district, 2 p.m. Saturday, Sacred Hearts Academy.
- Leeward district, 7 p.m. Feb. 28, Kapolei Middle School.
