TEMPLE, Texas — A Temple Independent School District fifth grader will have a chance to compete with some of the top spellers in Central Texas for the opportunity to continue advancing toward a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Ram Jantzen Aseron, a fifth grader at Kennedy-Powell Elementary School in Temple ISD, is one of just 25 spellers to qualify for a spot in the Central Texas Spelling Bee Finals in Waco. Aseron earned a spot in the Central Texas Spelling Bee Finals based on his performance on an online test last week. More than 80 spellers across an 11-county area took the test in an attempt to qualify, and Aseron is the only Temple ISD student, and one of just two students from Bell County, to earn a spot in the Central Texas Spelling Bee Finals.
“I am excited, it’s cool and it’s amazing,” Aseron said. “It is a little bit of a surprise, but I kind of expected it. I expect it to be a lot like our Kennedy-Powell spelling bee and I am going to keep working on spelling the words on our list to get ready for it.”
Aseron will be competing with elementary and middle school students in the Central Texas Bee. The top two spellers from campus spelling bees were eligible to try the online qualifying test. Asero’s score put him safely in the top 25 to earn him a spot in the Central Texas Spelling Bee Finals. The online test also has a vocabulary component included and the Spelling Bee will also include a vocabulary portion.
“All of the kids competing with him at the regional qualifying level are winners of their school spelling bee, so this is really impressive,” said Nicole Taha, third grade teacher and Spelling Bee coordinator at Kennedy-Powell Elementary. “I am very proud of him. There were some hard words and he worked really hard to get there. He really had to know his stuff to be able to compete at this level. The level of competition is higher for this round and we will keep working to make sure he is ready.”
The Central Texas Spelling Bee Finals will be held at McLennan Community College in Waco on March 28th. The winning speller from that competition will qualify to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.