Spelling Bee winner preparing for next stage
EL CENTRO – Imperial Valley Home School Academy seventh-grader Jaedilline Laurino wasn’t just the only student from her school participating in the 16th annual Imperial County Regional Spelling Bee, she was the academy’s first competitor in its 11year existence.
This, naturally, makes her the academy’s first champion, a distinction the 12-year-old admitted was “exciting.”
On Monday, Laurino was presented the spoils of her March 16 victory at the Imperial County Office Education headquarters at 1398 Sperber Road. They included a substantial firstplace trophy, certificates and free access to spelling guides and other online educational resources as she prepares for the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Like this year’s Regional Spelling Bee, most of the national competition will be conducted virtually until the finals, which will be held at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Fla. The finals, involving 10 to 12 students, will be broadcast live on ESPN2.
If Laurino is to make it to Orlando, she’ll first have to navigate the preliminary, quarterfinal and semifinal levels of competition online. While the semifinals are slated for June 27, dates for the previous two rounds are pending.
In pre-COVID days, the early rounds have been held in person in Washington, D.C., over the course of one week, better known as Bee Week.
Laurino, who breezed through the word “effervescent” to land a place in local orthographic lore, said she isn’t bothered by the prospect of competing virtually and not being assured a trip east. Although she acknowledges she was nervous during the regional competition, it was less nerve-racking not having to perform in front of a crowd.
“I was in my comfort zone,” she said.
Laurino said she studied intensively every day for the two or three weeks leading up to the March 16 competition.
“She’s a dymamo,” Laurino’s Principal Murrie Plourd confirmed. “She was really prepared.”