Ten-year-old advances to county spelling bee

Ten-year-old June Musurlian will compete in the Los Angeles County Spelling Bee next month, after winning Glendale Unified’s district-wide spelling competition in which 20 students competed last week.

The R.D. White Elementary student is only the third fourth-grader to have won the competition in the 39 years that Glendale has hosted the event, which typically has a majority of fifth- and sixth-graders compete.

After spelling nearly 20 words correctly, many times taking her index finger to the palm of her hand before reciting letters into the microphone, June won the competition with the word, “atmosphere.”

June was given a chance to spell that word after a fellow classmate, and the last of June’s contenders, Jillian Roa, spelled “acumen” incorrectly, giving June an opportunity to spell it correctly, and then given the next chance to spell “atmosphere” for the win.

June spent hours studying a list of more than 1,000 words that school officials shared with participants, spelling them out loud for her mom, who would then highlight the ones she incorrectly spelled in pink highlighter to review them again.

“I practiced really hard, and I really wanted to win. Right when I got the word ‘atmosphere,’ I was thinking, I’m going to win,” she said.

Her victory allows R.D. White Elementary to display the competition trophy for a year, while June herself took home a medal and a dictionary.

She will compete in the county spelling bee on March 25, and in a phone interview on Wednesday, June said she’d prefer to keep her upcoming spelling strategy to herself.

“I’m going to keep that secret,” she said.

June did reveal, however, that she’ll incorporate SAT vocabulary flash cards into her practice leading up to the competition, whose winner advances to the state spelling contest in Stockton.

Aside from swimming, dancing, gymnastics and learning computer programming, June said she enjoys reading.

Her two current favorite book series include “Warriors,” written by several authors under the single name, Erin Hunter, and “Wolves of the Beyond,” written by Kathryn Lasky.

“I read a lot. I think that’s what helps me in spelling. I love to read,” she said.