For the first time, an Eastside Elementary School student has won the Sweetwater County Spelling Bee.
Last week, students from Sweetwater County School District No. 1 and Sweetwater County School District No. 2 gathered at Western Wyoming Community College to compete in the annual spelling bee.
This spelling bee was open to students in fifth grade through eighth grade. Shari Moran, Eastside Elementary math and science teacher and spelling bee organizer, said, to her knowledge this was the first time an Eastside student has ever won the district-level spelling bee. She said the winner is usually from one of the junior high schools.
After 10 rounds of tough competition, sixth-grade Eastside Elementary School student Teilah Guerrero walked away with first place, a Western scholarship, trophy, medal and a chance to compete in the state’s spelling bee. The Wyoming Spelling Bee is scheduled to take place March 11 at Western.
“I only misspelled one word out of 10,” Teilah said.
The person who misspelled the least amount of words was declared the winner. For Teilah, spelling just seems to come easy.
“She does pretty good with words,” her father, Ray Guerrero said.
Ray said one day Teilah came home from school and said she was going to be in the Sweetwater County Spelling Bee. Ray said that was the first time he had heard of it. Teilah said she had come in fifth place at the Eastside Spelling Bee and has qualified for the district’s competition.
Ray said to prepare for the district competition, Teilah received a list, a few pages long, with about 4,000 words on them to practice on.
“A list?”, Teilah asked her father.
Teilah corrected her father saying the packet she received was like a book. Regardless of the size of the 4,000-word document, Teilah wasn’t discouraged by the amount of work she had to put in.
With so many words to review, Teilah and her family reviewed as many as they could. Ray said some of them he couldn’t even pronounce. That’s when Teilah’s mother would step in and help.
Sixth-grade student Teilah Guerrero takes time to reflect on winning the Sweetwater County Spelling Bee. Photo by Stephanie Thompson
The Competition
For Teilah, the toughest part of the competition was the written exam and using the microphone.
“I could spell the words, I just didn’t like the microphone,” Teilah said.
Each contestant was given a number and when their number was called, they would step up to the microphone and receive their word. Teilah said she didn’t like how loud her voice sounded on the microphone.
Another issue was when the person in charge of pronouncing the words, didn’t pronounce them correctly. When this would occur, a judge would step in and make the correct pronunciation. Teilah said it’s hard to know how to spell a word, if it isn’t pronounced correctly.
Teilah Guerrero poses for a photo with her trophy, medal and flowers she was given for winning the Sweetwater County Spelling Bee. Courtesy photo
Preparing For State
Moran said Teilah will receive another packet of words to study for the state competition, which she can review. Moran said she’s hopeful some of the words on this list will be repeats from the district competition. The winner of the state competition will advance to nationals in Washington, D.C.
“If you win, it’s a new 4-wheeler, ” Ray said about the state competition.
That’s the deal he made Teilah. They joked about it being a “no pressure” situation.
“I think she’s very talented. I think she will do good,” Moran said.
When Teilah isn’t practicing spelling words, she’s active in basketball, softball, band and motocross.
