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Veritas School 6th grader advances to state spelling bee
perez spelling bee
David Perez, who is a sixth-grade student at Veritas Elementary School, took second place Monday in the San Joaquin County Elementary Spelling Bee.

David Perez will be advancing to the California State Elementary Spelling Bee.

The sixth-grade student representing Veritas Elementary School accomplished that by finishing second in Monday’s San Joaquin County Elementary Spelling Bee held at the San Joaquin County Office of Education Wentworth Building.

Annalisa Casillas, a fifth grader at John McCandless STEM Charter School (Lincoln Unified), took home the first-place trophy at the 28th annual SJCOE event.

She did so by correctly spelling ‘parentheses.’

The state Spelling Bee will be held on April 25 at the Great Wolf Lodge.

Casillas and Perez were among 45 fourth-through-ninth grade students who qualified for the county-wide Spelling Bee.

Other local students included Vivienne Tugaff (RI Tech) and Maanvi Vojjala (EPIC) of River Islands Academies; Stephen Duya (Lathrop Elementary), Mahira Yadav (Nile Garden) of Manteca Unified; Joel Brannon (Park View), Malakai Guzman (Weston), Brayden Baker (Ripona) and Ethan Blakemore (Weston) of Ripon Unified; and Tristan Hernandez of St. Anthony’s.