Manischa Wijayawardhana, a seventh-grade student at Switzerland Point Middle School, won the annual St. Johns County School District (SJCSD) Spelling Bee held January 13 at the SJCSD Administrative Building. She won by spelling the word “appellation” correctly. Manischa is the daughter of Charles and Aloka Wijayawardhana.
It took 15 rounds for the winner to be determined. The participants were congratulated by Christine Stephan, Director of Instructional Services Elementary Education, and School Board members Anthony “Tony” Coleman and Beverly Slough.
Forty-two elementary and middle school students from 31 public and three private schools competed for the honor of representing St. Johns County in the First Coast Regional Spelling Bee scheduled to be held virtually Monday, March 29.
The winner of the regional spelling bee will advance to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee scheduled in May in Washington, D.C.
Dr. Rebecca England, SJCSD Program Specialist for Elementary Language Arts, served as the spelling bee coordinator and the pronouncer was Dr. Carl Williams, Professor in the Education Department at Flagler College. Judges for the event were Jay DiMartino, SJCSD Secondary Language Arts Program Specialist and Cheryl Freeman, SJCSD Coordinator of Volunteer Services and RSVP.
The Spelling Bee will be available for viewing at a later date on St. Johns Educational Access TV channels 99 or 262.