March 18, 2016 / Modified mar 18, 2016 11:09 a.m.

W-i-n-n-e-r-s: Two Pima County Students in State Spelling Bee

Matt Glasshoff and Sai Konkimalla to represent county Saturday at state championship.

Generic Classroom Education Desks Spotlight
Fernanda Echavarri, AZPM

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The state’s top 27 students will compete in the Arizona’s Spelling Bee Championship on Saturday, March 19 in Phoenix.

Matt Glasshoff,14, says he hopes he will remember the words on his study guide, even the Spanish ones like ‘chimichanga’ and ‘burrito,’ when he goes onstage at the annual competition.

“I’m really excited to represent my school. It’s cool” he said, “I think it’s a huge honor to have made it this far.”

Though he has won his school contest five times before, the 8th grader from Marana Middle School will compete in the state-wide event for the first time.

Matt said some of the words could be tricky -like sanguinary- the word he spelled correctly to win his last spelling bee.

“They try to throw you off by giving you words that are pretty easy, but they sound hard” Matt said.

His advice?

“Relax.”

The key to get the hard ones right, he said, is to not get too nervous and go with your first guess.

Matt said his favorite part of spelling bees is the thrill of the competition.

“I usually get nervous right before my first word, that’s how it is with everything,” he said. “When I do swimming, I get nervous right before I jump in the pool, you know, and after that it’s just… time to go.”

Matt and 5th grader Sai Konkimalla from BASIS Oro Valley will both be representing Pima County this year. The winner will get a chance to compete in the 89th Annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in National Harbor, outside of Washington, DC in May.

For more information on the event go to azedfoundation.org

Julie Luchetta is a freelance reporter.

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