South Valley students competed in spelling bee in Tulare County

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- Students from around the South Valley showed off their spelling skills at the 17th annual Tulare County Spelling Bee Wednesday.

In front of a large crowd, 242 fourth through eighth graders competed in the event held at the Visalia Convention Center. The district's special events coordinator said this is something students have been practicing for and it helps build their word and articulation skills. "Not every school places the emphasis but in Tulare County, spelling is definitely alive and well. We know how important it is. One misspelled word, this is what I tell them, one misspelled word on a resume can get it tossed out. So it's very, very, important-- spelling is a great skill," said Nancy Bellin, Special Events Coordinator for Tulare County Office of Education.

For the second year in a row, Wednesday's winner was seventh grader Sameera Hussain of Sequoia Middle School in Porterville. She will go on to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in May.

Some of the words Sameera spelled to advance were capricious, misogynist pernicious, and phoneticize.