‘Leniency’ wins it for La Cañada Unified Spelling Bee champ
Words like “sourdough,” “ravenous” and “identity” are relatively easy for the La Cañada Unified School District’s top spellers to master.
“Rotisserie,” on the other hand, is a word sixth-grader Oliver Grenner wants another chance to spell out loud.
Perhaps he will soon have a second crack at the four-syllable noun describing a cooking appliance used for roasting or barbecuing meat, after having captured first place Jan. 25 in the LCUSD Spelling Bee. He is now poised to move on to the Los Angeles County Spelling Bee, set for March 29 at Almansor Court in Alhambra.
The private La Cañada Preparatory School, which Oliver attends, is invited to compete with the La Cañada school district students during the annual contest because the event serves the local qualifying round for the county bee. The district bee is held in the LCUSD Governing Board room, which was packed with onlookers and participants for this year’s competition.
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Palm Crest Elementary School fifth-grader Jonathan Pham was in a word-to-word battle with Grenner in the final rounds of the La Cañada spelling bee after the remaining students were eliminated. While Jonathan spelled “rotisserie” correctly, he fell just short of successfully spelling the next word, “ceremonious.” Grenner capitalized on the opportunity to go to the next round. The two traded correct and incorrect spellings of complex words for another round, including “beleaguer,” “xenophobia” and “pilgrimage.” Ultimately, “leniency” was the word that Grenner spelled correctly for victory. Jonathan, who took second place, will serve as his alternate at the county level.
“It was fun being with my classmates,” Oliver said. It was his second year participating in the district spelling bee. He relentlessly studied words of varying difficulty leading up to the event.
“I’m very excited about competing,” he said.
Paradise Canyon Elementary School Principal Debra Cradduck helped organize this year’s spelling bee, as she has done for the last few years.
This year La Cañada High School Associate Principal James Cartnal was the “Spell Master.” LCHS Assistant Principal Mary Hazlett and LCHS 7/8 Principal Jarrett Gold also served as judges.
“We’re very collaborative,” Cradduck said. “It’s great fun for the junior high school and high school administrators to help in the bee.”
Sanderson is a contributor to Times Community News. Follow him on Twitter: @MattySandz
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