By correctly spelling “jeans” on Dec. 12, fourth-grader Arabella Griffin won the West Sedona School Spelling Bee, with third-grader Lash Lupo taking second place.
Griffin and Lupo received trophies from the Kiwanis Club and cash prizes of $75 and $50, respectively. Griffin will be representing the Sedona-Oak Creek School District at the 79th annual Yavapai County Spelling Bee in Prescott on Saturday, Feb. 1.
“I look at one person when I spell something,” the soft-spoken Griffin said on how she was able to perform with all eyes on her. Griffin also said she was most proud of winning her first trophy, now displayed in her room.
Griffin’s favorite word from her practice sessions is “mule,” and she said that one of the longer words she has learned is “dolphin.”
“I’m a little nervous but I’m practicing every day,” Griffin said.
“Arabella is the sweetest, kindest, most compassionate little girl I think there is, and I learned so much from her,” her aunt Joy Pollard said. “She is a voracious reader, fantastic, which I think is what is helpful with the spelling bee.”
Griffin said that she enjoys reading the Babysitters Club series and the “I Survived” historical fiction book series, that English is her favorite subject in school, that she is looking forward to learning about outer space in school and that she loves to write.
She will be celebrating her 10th birthday next week and said that she hopes to get some jewelry for her birthday to match the necklace she received last year.
“Arabella works very hard and strives each day to do her best,” Griffin’s teacher Kelly Cadigan said. “She is such a kind and caring young lady. Her hard work and dedication to learning was clear as she took the spelling bee stage. I am so excited for her as she continues on to the county spelling bee. Way to go, Arabella. We are so proud of you.”
“There’s just like this giving that she has and that her friends have at school,” Pollard said. “It reminds you in a way of just kindness and compassion and giving and understanding that’s just so innocent … Sometimes I remind myself that I can be more like Arabella.”
Outside of school, Griffin likes to draw pictures of clothes and purses using the color pink, her favorite color. She has also thought about becoming a veterinarian when she grows up, citing her love of dogs.
One of the words she has been practicing for the county contest is “lollygagging.”
“That’s when you sit around and not like to do anything,” Griffin explained.
