Stella Brockman Elementary eighth grader James Quiaoit is making history for Manteca Unified School District this year. He will be representing the district at the State Spelling Bee on May 3.

He is the first ever, in the history of the district, to get to that level in the annual spelling competition. Hosting the state event will be Miller Creek School in San Rafael. He will be there representing Manteca Unified and the San Joaquin County Office of Education in the seventh- to ninth-grade category.

Getting facetious did not get Quiaoit to this history-making level of spelling bees. In fact, he misspelled this three-syllable word at the county spelling bee where he was one of 16 spellers who represented Manteca Unified. Still, his stellar performance catapulted him to second place out of 42 spellers in the countywide competition.

This is also the second year in a row he earned the honor of being one of the school district’s top spellers.

Quiaoit and other Manteca Unified top spellers who went on to the county level were honored and recognized by the school district at the last Board of Trustees meeting. They were presented by district elementary education PE and spelling bee coordinator Tevani Liotard.

Below are the other students who received certificates of achievement from the district officials for making it to the county spelling competition. They were joined at the podium by their respective schools’ principals during the awards presentation.

• 4th- to 6th-grade category: Wisher Tabaco, 6th grader at George Komure School, represented the district at the county level his fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade years. He placed third out of 16 spellers at the county level. His last word missed: acttomegalee. Rael Carmesis, fifth grader at Mossdale Elementary in Lathrop, placed seventh out of 16 spellers.

• 7th- to 9th-grade category: Isabella Martinez, 7th grader at Brock Elliott, is no stranger to the spelling bee either. She has represented the district at the county in the past, Tevani said. Last word she missed was legerdemain. She placed 22nd out of the 42 spellers. Five other students missed the same word, too.

Andrew Campos, eighth grader at George Komure, lasted numerous rounds at the county spelling bee, Tevani pointed out. When he missed his last word, he was at 24th out of 42 spellers.