Schools

Willow Creek Students Go 1-2 in District Spelling Bee

Austin Moca won the bee after correctly spelling "precipitate."

reigned at the District 68 Spelling Bee Friday.

Austin Moca, a fifth-grader at Willow Creek, took first place in the bee. Maria D'Ambrose, a sixth-grader at Willow Creek, took second.

Moca and D'Ambrose were the two remaining spellers after round six of the bee, but the winner wasn't determined until 12 more rounds of spelling. The pair traded off correct spellings of the words "kinesiology," "hypochondria" and "euphonious." In the eighteenth round of spelling, D'Ambrose misspelled "stollen," a German loaf-shaped cake filled with dry fruit.

Find out what's happening in Woodridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Moca then correctly spelled "mediocre" and "precipitate" to take the bee. He will represent District 68 in the county bee on Feb. 23 at Lisle Jr. High School. If Moca makes it to the next round, he'll compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in the spring in Washington D.C.

Two students from each District 68 school were selected to compete at the district-level. These students were: Mustafa Ali, Riya Bhasin, Ben Cortez, Maria D'Ambrose, Olivia Featherstone, Seerat Kaur, Jackson Kovac, Jessica Ley, Stephen Magnusson, Austin Moca, Jhenevie Oca, John O'Connor, Chris Pry and Kayla Ryan.

Find out what's happening in Woodridgewith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Check out a video from the spelling bee next week on Woodridge Patch.

Editor's note:


Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here