Four local students have won the right to compete at the state level after coming out on top at the Santa Barbara County Spelling Bee, which was held Wednesday at the Santa Barbara County Education Office.

Aidan Garard, a sixth-grader at Vieja Valley School in Hope School District, took first place in the elementary division by correctly spelling “cuckoo.” Keaton Cross, sixth-grader at Kellogg School in Goleta Union School District, won second place with “coalesce.”

Third place went to Daniel Nickolov, sixth-grader at Isla Vista School, also in Goleta Union School District. His winning word was “alliance.”

In the junior high division, Tyler Norman, an eighth-grader from La Colina Jr. High in Santa Barbara Unified School District, took first place by correctly spelling “bailiff.”

Second place went to Emily Donelan, an eighth-grader from Laguna Blanca School. Her winning word was “aquiline.”

Third place was won by Shio Chiba, an eighth-grader from Goleta Valley Jr. High School in the Santa Barbara Unified School District, correctly spelling “paradisiacal.”

The two top winners in each division will proceed to the state level.

Thanks to the Masons Lodge, Women’s Service Club of Goleta, and Town and Country Women’s Club for their donations.

The 2017 Elementary State Spelling Bee, for grades four through six, will be held April 13 at the San Joaquin County Office of Education in Stockton. The 2017 State Junior High Spelling Bee, for grades seven through nine, will be May 6 at Miller Creek Middle School in San Rafael.

More information is available from Rose Koller of the Santa Barbara County Education Office at 964-4710, ext. 5222.

— David J. Lawrence for Santa Barbara County Education Office.