For immediate release: March 2, 2012
Camino Real M.S. 8th Grader
Wins Spanish Spelling Bee
Students, left to right, are 2012 LCPS district Spanish Spelling Bee winner Priscyla Marquez of Camino Real
Middle School, second-place winner Ximena Tapia of Sierra Middle School and third-place winner Alfredo
Gomez of Columbia Elementary School. Adults, left to right, are Camino Real Middle School Principal Ralph
Ramos, spelling bee judge Amalia Gonzales, LCPS Bilingual. Multicultural, Migrant Education Department
facilitator Rosalinda Carreon Altamirano, spelling bee word pronouncer Dr. Patricia MacGregor-Mendoza,
Assistant Director of Instruction for English Language Acquisition, Bilingual, and Migrant Education
Programs Robert Lozano and spelling bee judge Dr. Luis Huerta-Charles.
Students appear and are identified on the LCPS website with parental permission.
LAS CRUCES – “Exhalación” (“exhalation” in English) was the winning word – and also what
Camino Real Middle School eighth grader Priscyla Marquez probably did after she spelled it
correctly to win the LCPS district Spanish Spelling Bee, held February 24, 2012 at the LCPS
Performing Arts Center at Oñate High School. Sierra Middle School eighth grader Ximena Tapia
was second, while Columbia Elementary School fourth grader Alfredo Gómez was third.
Fifty-six students in grades three-eight competed in “El Concurso de Deletreo en
Español.”
Priscyla will represent LCPS at the state Spanish Spelling Bee, which will be held April
14 in Albuquerque.
“We are extremely proud of Priscyla,” said Camino Real bilingual teacher Ge Ann
Killgore. “She is an outstanding student and we are very excited to have her represent Camino
and LCPS at the state level,” she said.
Dr. Patricia MacGregor-Mendoza, professor of Spanish and Linguistics at New Mexico
State University, was the word pronouncer. Judges were Dr. Luis Huerta-Charles, associate
professor of Curriculum and Instruction at NMSU; Sylvia Avalos, LCPS Secondary Language
Acquisition and Bilingual Programs facilitator; and community member Amalia Rodríguez.
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