DHS student takes 2nd place in Riverside County Spelling Bee

After a stressful 18-round competition, and eighth grade student at Desert Springs Middle School in Desert Hot Springs just barely came up short from taking home top honors at the 39th annual Riverside County Spelling Bee.

John Terry claimed second place after successfully making it through 16 rounds of the competition. Spelling Bee officials said he failed to spell ‘obdurate’ correctly in the 17th round.

Aisha Randhawa, a 5th grader at Garretson Elementary School in Corona, proceeded to spell the word ‘cologne’ correctly to complete the round and then clinched the competition by correctly spelling ‘ambrosia’.

Randhawa will now compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Maryland this May.

Official said, when asked after the competition whether she was nervous about spelling the final word, Aisha said, “I thought about it for a second but I was pretty sure I knew it.”

When asked about what she is most looking forward to when she travels to the National Spelling Bee in Maryland, she said, “Probably competing at the event and maybe getting to see the Washington Monument.”

Here are the best spellers from the 39th annual Riverside County Spelling Bee:

First place: Aisha Randhawa – Grade 5, Garretson Elementary School, Corona-Norco USD
Second place: John Terry – Grade 8, Desert Springs Middle School, Palm Springs USD
Third place: Santa Fe Kiler- Grade 7, Menifee Valley Middle School
Fourth place (three-way tie): Katherine Spusta – Grade 6, San Gorgonio Middle School, Beaumont USD Aaliyah Webster – Grade 8, Western Center Academy, Hemet USD Nathaniel Moreno – Grade 8, Lakeside Middle School, Val Verde USD

The 39th Annual Riverside County Spelling Bee was held at the Moreno Valley Conference and Recreation Center.