LaVilla Student Wins Duval County Spelling Bee
JACKSONVILLE - Catherine Mary Braza, a seventh-grade student at LaVilla School of the Arts, won the 2009 Duval County Spelling Bee held last night at Landon Middle School. She won by spelling the word “squalor" correctly.
Rounding out the top five were the following students, all from a Duval County public school: second place – last year’s regional winner, Ashley Barron, a sixth grader at James Weldon Johnson Middle; tied for third place - Nihal Kala, a fifth grader at Susie Tolbert Elementary and Ka’Harie Griggs, an eighth grader at Paxon Middle; and fourth place –Kiana Goodall, a seventh grader at Ribault Middle.
Twenty-one elementary and middle school students from 17 public and four private schools competed for the right to represent Duval County in The Florida Times-Union Regional Spelling Bee. The regional competition is scheduled for Saturday, February 21 at 10 a.m. at the main branch of the Jacksonville Public Library.
The winner of the regional bee will advance to compete in the 2009 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee, scheduled May 24-29 in Washington, D.C.
Jill Lively, a DCPS elementary school teacher, served as the spelling bee coordinator. The pronouncer was Pat Cascone, DCPS lead director for competitive funding, and the head judge was Tim Ballentine, DCPS executive director of instructional research and accountability.
The Duval County Spelling Bee was sponsored by The Florida Times-Union, and conducted according to the contest rules of the national spelling bee.
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