Two EPISD students are among the best Spanish spellers in the country.
Azul Morales from Lundy Elementary School and Marium Zahra from Mesita Elementary School competed in the National Spanish Spelling Bee earlier this month in Denver.
Both students made it deep into the final rounds of spelling.
Morales, this year’s EPISD Spanish Bee champion, spelled all the way to the 13th and final round. She was unable to correctly spell circense, an adjective that describes a person or thing that is related to the circus.
Zahra, who took second place in the EPISD bee, was not too far behind Morales. She made it to the 11th round of spelling but unfortunately was not able to spell the Spanish word for a macaw: guacamaya.
“I’m excited to be here because my fourth language is Spanish and it’s important to know I can get this far,” said Marium, also speaks Urdu and Hijabi.
EPISD’s dual-language students compete annually at their individual campuses and 60 winners advanced to the districtwide Spanish Spelling Bee at Chapin in March.
Morales and Zahra qualified for the national Spanish bee based on their performance at the District bee.
Dozens of students from throughout the country participated in the national Spanish bee in Denver. In the end, eight students were selected as winners.
“This event provides students the opportunity to showcase their Spanish language skills and to network with peers throughout the country,” said EPISD Connecting Languages Facilitator Ana Muñoz.
