Top spellers from area schools competed in the Stanislaus County Elementary Spelling Championship on Thursday. Sponsored by the Stanislaus County Office of Education, the Elementary Spelling Championship for children in grades 4-6 took place at the Martin G. Petersen Event Center in Modesto. Chris Dempsey from La Loma Junior High School served as the Spelling Master, and volunteers from each school site served as proctors.

The top two spellers in the Elementary Spelling Championship are Carter Glen Cardenas from Connecting Waters Central Valley Charter School and Amritha Diwana from Lakewood Elementary. The champions spelled words correctly, including deciduous, xenophobia, and somnambulate.

Cardenas and Diwana will represent Stanislaus County at the state competition April 26, 2025, at the Great Wolf Lodge, in Manteca. Alternate winner, Kabir Panchal from Agnes Baptist Elementary, will attend the state competition if Cardenas or Diwana cannot represent Stanislaus County.

Gold medal winners from this year’s competition included: Quynn Becker and Sehej Dhaliwal from Dennis Earl in Turlock, Lucy Dent and Jeanine Gonzales from Julien Elementary in Turlock, Kendra Guzman from Cunningham Elementary in Turlock and Justin Jorristsma and Vina Tran from Walnut Elementary in Turlock,.

Silver medal winners from this year’s competition included: Lux Berry, Alexander Padilla and Callie Hallum from Chatom Elementary in rural Turlock, AnAaliyah Brown and Alexander Soria from Keyes to Learning Charter, Braxton Carlson and Annaleigh Urbina from Denair Elementary Charter Academy and Isabella Llernas-Soria and Mikhael Tobor from Keyes Elementary.