‘Alternate route’ sends student to national bee
LAS CRUCES — Thirteen-year-old Kristina Martos didn’t win the regional student spelling bee in El Paso earlier this year. It meant she wouldn’t be able to attend the national competition in May, but she wasn’t disappointed in her performance.
Instead, the seventhgrader considered her steady improvement since her first spelling bee at age 9 as success enough.
Still, when Kristina discovered in late March she was invited to attend the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee anyhow, via an alternative pathway, she was ecstatic. Her mom broke the news to her in the presence of the rest of her family — including two aunts who were on a multi-party phone call.
“I was really happy,” said the Lynn Middle School seventh-grader. “I was jumping up and down. I couldn’t believe I would go to nationals.”
Kristina, who was Las Cruces Public Schools’ 2018 spelling bee runner-up, will become the second Lynn Middle School student to participate in the national spelling bee.
The first was Olivia Weinbaum, who won the regional El Paso bee in 2013 and competed nationally. Her mother, Lisa Weinbaum, is a teacher at Lynn Middle School, and took on the role of coach of the school’s spelling club after her daughter moved on to high school. Kristina was among the dozen participants this school year, the teacher said.
Kristina is a reading enthusiast and allaround “excellent” student in Lynn Middle School’s engineering magnet program, said her mother Rebecca Martos.
“She’s always had great grades,” she said. “She catches on quickly. She studies. She just really enjoys it.”
In addition, Kristina participates in wideranging activities. She’s a state-rated chess player in her age category for girls. She plays the cello in the school orchestra; she also plays guitar and piano. She likes volleyball and basketball. And she’s dance captain of the school’s spirit team.
For the first time this year, the Scripps National Spelling Bee opened up 225 additional slots for spellers who’d won their individual school competition but who didn’t win a regional contest. Weinbaum notified Kristina about the program, called RSVBee, and she applied.
An estimated 900 students applied.
National bee participants from southern New Mexico are usually listed under the Texas category because the regional contest in which they compete is held in Texas, where the event sponsor is the El Paso Times.
But because Kristina is participating in through the alternative route, she’ll be denoted under New Mexico, Weinbaum said.
“Let’s give New Mexico it’s due,” she said.
Eighth-grader Liam Nyikos of Carlsbad won the El Paso regional contest and sixthgrader Akansha Nanda of Santa Fe won the New Mexico contest, sponsored by the Albuquerque Journal. They are both eligible to compete nationally.
Kristina said she expects meeting the other spellers, or “spellebrities” as they’re known at the national event, will be a big part of the fun. Also, the contest is in the Washington, D.C., area, and participants will be able to do some sightseeing.
The event runs from May 27 to June 1.