Texas Border Business
PHARR – Pharr-San Juan-Alamo ISD hosted its 2nd Annual Spelling Bee District Competition virtually on Feb. 11, 2021, with 38 students competing from 19 PSJA ISD elementary schools. The top two student competitors will advance to the 33rd Annual RGV Regional Spelling Bee to be held virtually on March 6, 2021.
All competitors received Certificates of Advancement, with the top 11 students awarded medals and only the top 3 awarded with a trophy. The top three students were as follows:
- 1st Place – Summer Silva, 5th grade student at Palmer Elementary
- 2nd Place – Ian Sandoval, 2nd grader at Sorensen Elementary
- 3rd place – Gael Zambrano, 5th grader at Carman Elementary
“We commend our elementary students for taking part in this enriching academic competition that helps our students gain important life-long skills,” said PSJA Superintendent Dr. Jorge L. Arredondo. “Thank you, parents, for supporting your child during this process. A big thank you to all the school sponsors and principals for supporting our students and helping them reach this level of competition.”
According to PSJA Advanced Academics Director Michael S. Murray, students have been preparing for the competition since October 2020. As part of this, students at 19 participating campuses held Campus Spelling Bee competitions and advanced their top two spellers to the District Spelling Bee.
As the top two District-level spellers, Summer Silva from Palmer Elementary and Ian Sandoval from Sorensen Elementary will be representing PSJA ISD at the 33rd Annual RGV Regional Spelling Bee for a chance to advance to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in March 2021.
“The Spelling Bee program helps our students to build confidence, gain public speaking experience, practice poise under pressure, set goals and build their vocabularies. These skills will help them in future endeavors, both in school and later in life,” said Murray. “I am extremely impressed with the dedication the students have shown to learn the spelling list and compete today in a platform that many of them are unfamiliar with. Students did an amazing job and adapted to the situation and did very well with their spelling.”
