Can you spell unerringly, tacitly and spicier?

Eighth-grader Abby McBeth from St. Raphael School can, earning the first-place prize at a local spelling bee on Tuesday.

The Santa Barbara County Education Office hosted a spelling bee for elementary and junior high school students. The winners will go on to compete in the state spelling bee in April.

“It feels pretty good,” McBeth said. “I didn’t go into this expecting to win.” 

McBeth competed against eight other junior high school students from across the county. In the written competition, they all received the same word to spell and wrote it out on a piece of paper. Students were eliminated after they spelled three words incorrectly. Judges checked the students’ worksheets after each round until one speller remained. 

McBeth took home first place after successfully spelling unerringly. Second place went to Emiliano Jimenez, an eighth-grader from Carpinteria Middle School, and third place went to seventh-grader Sonora Landa from Our Lady of Mount Carmel School. 

Associate Superintendent Ellen Barger said the office has been hosting the annual spelling bee for decades, and they always do the written spelling bee to prepare students for how the state spelling bee is conducted.

“With the written spelling bee, all the students get the same words, so it’s really fair,” Barger said. “Also, by having a written bee, the students are more likely to be able to recognize their words.”

Each school in the county holds its own spelling competition, and the top two spellers from each school get to compete in the countywide competition. 

“What’s really exciting about this event is that there are students who absolutely love words. They love not only spelling, but reading, but they’re very interested in the etymology of the words and the origins and the different spelling patterns,” Barger said. “So the combination of reading and then learning new words and learning to spell just really delights and challenges their literary brains.”

Earlier in the day, 54 elementary students had their own spelling bee.

Marcus Luzzatto-Fegiz, a sixth-grader from Washington Elementary, took home the first-place prize after successfully spelling carnivorous.

Reiko Cabrera, a fifth-grader from Kellogg Elementary, took home second place, and sixth-grader Jake Lee, also from Kellogg, took home third place.

McBeth and Luzzatto-Fegiz will go on to represent Santa Barbara County in each division of the state spelling bee, scheduled for April 26.