A Notable Victory in Spelling Contest

Raillery, which our dictionary says means “light, good-natured ridicule or satire,” is not exactly a household word. Most adults would have trouble spelling it correctly. It’s an even tougher word for a 14-year-old to wrestle with. But that’s the word that won the Orange County Spelling Bee last Wednesday and with it the right to compete in June in the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

What makes the victory even more notable is that the winner, Dung Minh-Ngoc Le, a student at McFadden Intermediate School in Santa Ana, was born in Vietnam and came to the United States 10 years ago. We applaud her accomplishment in learning the language of her newly adopted country so completely. It’s a personal achievement of which she should be proud.

It should also be an inspiration to other Vietnamese refugees to develop their English language skills to improve communications and opportunity. And it’s an example of the scholarship of our new Vietnamese neighbors and how much a part of the community they have become in such a short time. We’re happy to see Dung Minh-Ngoc Le spell that out for us.