Castleberry ISD recognizes English and Spanish spelling-bee champions

The Castleberry ISD Board of Education recognized school spelling-bee champions for the 2024–25 season and announced regional representation for the district’s Spanish-language competition.

Kristen Smith, the district’s third-through-fifth-grade ELA coordinator, presented the English spelling-bee campus champions and noted that the region’s Spanish spelling bee will be hosted by Region 11 Education Service Center on April 1. Smith said the Scripps National Spelling Bee provides word lists that students use to prepare and that this year the district also used a Spanish word list for campus and district competitions.

English campus champions announced included Jonathan Castillo (A.V. Cato), Rafael Gutierrez (Castleberry Elementary) and Aden Perez (Joy James Academy of Leadership). The championship words announced for those campus champions included “dignified,” “jerky” and “daredevil,” according to the presentation.

The district also recognized Spanish spelling-bee winners and noted one district student will represent Castleberry ISD at the regional Spanish spelling bee. Named Spanish winners included Sherasade Garcia (school listed in the presentation), Gael Dominguez (Castleberry Elementary), Britany Barrietos (Joy James Academy of Leadership and district overall runner-up) and Daliza Lopez (Irma Marsh Middle School), who will represent the district at regionals.

Smith said this year marked the first time sixth graders were invited to campus- and district-level competition and that Region 11 released a Spanish word list of more than 1,100 terms for study. The board recognized the spelling-bee coordinators, judges, teachers and parents who supported the students.

No formal board action or vote followed the recognition.