Baker Sixth Grade Campus student Aryaman Jadhav confidently spelled "schnauzer" to earn the title of La Porte ISD Spelling Bee Champion on Feb. 11. Aryaman, the son of Supriya and Rutharaj Jadhav, also won last year's spelling bee as a Heritage Elementary fifth grader.

The second place trophy went to Mason Finnen, a fifth grader at College Park Elementary. Mason is the son of Elaine and Clif Finnen.

The bee, which was held in the Board Room of the LPISD Administration Building, brought together the top three spellers from each LPISD elementary and junior high campus for an outstanding competition that lasted 21 rounds. Participants correctly spelled words such as "anchovy," "alchemy," kahuna" and "flamenco" as the field narrowed to just four spellers in Round 13.

In Round 19, only three spellers were left in the competition, with Aryaman and Mason making it all the way to their 21st words.

Aryaman will now advance to the HoustonPBS Spelling Bee to be held on Saturday, March 31.

Other competitors included Nicholas Gonzalez, Emily Castro and Giovanny Barragon from Bayshore Elementary; Bry'Onna Washington and Justin Ramirez from College Park Elementary; Rylea Sandel, Aiden Nunez and Aianna Avergonzado from Heritage Elementary; Izihrie Mark, John Ortega and Sandra Aleman from La Porte Elementary; and Luke Gibson, Carson McDonald and Rebecca Porter from Lomax Elementary.

The spellers also included Jordan Wynn, Christina Longoria and Delaney Canizales from Jennie Reid Elementary; Kayla Dlouhy, Melissa Jaramillo and Dylan Harrison from Rizzuto Elementary; Madeline Blagg and Paisley Fernandez from Baker Sixth Grade Campus; Toni Bonvillian, Christopher Cook and Preetinder Singh from La Porte Junior High School; and Devin DeWeese, Cheyenne Copeland and Alanis Bing from Lomax Junior High School.