There's a hush in the auditorium as 54 elementary school students listen for their next word.
They pick up their pencils and have 20 seconds to spell it correctly. They're the top spellers in Santa Barbara County, battling it out to be the best.
"This is fourth through sixth grade, the elementary school portion, and then we take a break, and then the junior highs come in in the afternoon, and then we'll do the whole thing over again with much harder words," explains Joseph Velasco, the Spellmaster of the Santa Barbara County Spelling Bee.
He’s tasked with reading the words and has been playing the role for 15 years.
"I think the kids are nervous and excited. It's kind of a big deal," said Velasco. "I like the way the students write the words and have up to three chances to stay in the contest, as opposed to the Scripps Spelling Bee back east, which I think is nerve-wracking, where they stand up and have to spell the word on the fly."
"That's way more intimidating. I would not like that both being on either end of that. I feel like that's too much pressure on kids," he said.
This is the first time in the competition for 12-year-old Aishani Mishra. Twenty words in and she’s still got two strikes left.
"At first I was really nervous, but now I'm sort of more calm and at ease," said Mishra. "Yeah, I'm pretty excited. I think I'm a good speller."
Aya Sakr is 11 years old and has also made only one mistake so far.
"I practiced a little bit for the county and the school-wide one too and I've gotten one wrong which was also the gamut one. I spelled it with an 'I' instead of a 'U'," said Sakr.
And with that, it's time to pick up their pencils again.
"The students are so courageous, so brave, so brilliant," said County Superintendent of Schools Susan Salcido. She added that accurate spelling is still an important skill to have.
"Spelling is a really important part of learning, expressing their thoughts," said Salcido. "Yes, you can use spell check. You use it. I use it every day. But when we're actually expressing our thinking, not stopping to think, 'hmm, how do I spell this word?', you're really able to express in poetry, writing, any sort of verse. It's just a really special skill. These students have practiced. They are so knowledgeable. Like I said, brilliant, smart, courageous, brave."
The first-place winner of the Santa Barbara County Spelling Bee was Marcus Luzzatto Fegiz, a 6th grader from Washington Elementary School.
The winning word? "Carnivorous."
