Desert Palms student wins district spelling bee

The annual District Spelling Bee was held at the Peoria Unified School District’s Administration Center on January 24 where top spellers from across the district competed in front of their peers.

The results from the event include one top speller and eight runners-up who will advance to the Maricopa County Region IV Spelling Bee in February.

The winner of the Annual District Spelling Bee was Kenneth Armstrong from Desert Palms Elementary School. Armstrong won in the sixth round with the word “ganglion.”

The eight runners-up include: Jake Kleinschmit from Apache Elementary School, Violet Lageschulte from Copperwood Elementary School, Joash Esmas from Oasis Elementary School, Katelyn McCort from Desert Harbor Elementary School, Samantha Borromeo Javier from Ira A. Murphy Elementary School, Allison Black from Oakwood Elementary School, Raja Balanon from Sun Valley Elementary School and Jordan Guinn from Paseo Verde Elementary School.

These eight exceptional students will compete in the Maricopa County Region IV Spelling Bee hosted by Peoria Unified in February. The winners of the regional bee will move on to the state-level Arizona Spelling Bee in March followed by the Scripps National Spelling Bee held in Washington, D.C. the summer of 2020.

Those who were unable to attend the annual District Spelling Bee may watch the recorded event on the district website at peoriaunified.org/spellingbee.