The 2026 LAPS District Spelling Bee winners are (left to right): Hannah Li, 1st place; Fynn Johnson, 2nd place; and Oliver Truong, 3rd place. Hannah and Fynn will represent LAPS at the New Mexico State Qualifying Spelling Bee at the end of February. Photo Courtesy LAPS
Students representing all five elementary schools and the middle school participated in the 2026 LAPS District Spelling Bee held Wednesday night in the high school Speech Theater. Photo Courtesy LAPS
School site Spelling Bee Coordinators include (left to right) Bonnie James, Piñon Elementary; Giovanna Garofalo, Los Alamos Middle School; Gayle Eustis, Chamisa Elementary; Candice Kuykendall, Barranca Elementary; and Holly Robinson, Aspen Elementary. (Not pictured: Shanda Moore, Mountain Elementary). Photo Courtesy LAPS
Volunteers who helped with this year’s District Spelling Bee include (back row, left to right) Jeff Favorite, pronouncer; Jonathan Richardson, coordinator; Nancy Brugh, emcee and recordkeeper; Tammy Hinckley, timekeeper; and (front, left to right) judges Debbie Grothaus, Morrie Pongratz, and Sondra Wyman. Photo Courtesy LAPS
LAPS NEWS RELEASE
For the third year in a row, Hannah Li is the Los Alamos Public Schools Spelling Bee champion. Li, an 8th grader at Los Alamos Middle School, correctly spelled “acetone” to be declared the winner. This year’s contest lasted through 16 rounds before a winner was determined. Fynn Johnson, a 6th grader at Mountain Elementary, earned the 2nd place trophy and Aspen Elementary 4th grader Oliver Truong placed 3rd.
Sixteen students, representing Aspen Elementary, Barranca Mesa Elementary, Chamisa Elementary, Mountain Elementary, Piñon Elementary and LAMS, participated in this year’s district spelling bee held Wednesday night in the Los Alamos High Speech Theater.
Hannah and Fynn will each complete an online qualifying test at the end of February. The students with the top 25 scores in New Mexico will qualify to compete at the State Spelling Bee on Saturday, March 21. The state sends one representative to the National Scripps Spelling Bee that takes place in May. Last year Hannah placed third in the state competition.
Emcee and recordkeeper for this year’s DistrictSpelling Bee was Nancy Brugh. Judges for the contest included Debbie Grothaus, Morrie Pongratz and Sondra Wyman. Tammy Hinckley was the timekeeper, and Jeff Favorite stepped in as the pronouncer.
Hosts for the evening were the LAHS Activities department; LAPS Superintendent Jennifer Guy; Dr. Sharon Fogle, Director of Curriculum; Davine Jones, Assistant Director of Curriculum, and Jonathan Richardson, Curriculum Specialist.
School site spelling bees were held in December. The top finishers at each participating school site were then eligible to compete at the district contest. School site coordinators include Holly
Robinson, Aspen Elementary; Candice Kuykendall, Barranca Elementary; Gayle Eustis, Chamisa Elementary; Shanda Moore, Mountain Elementary; Bonnie James, Piñon Elementary; and Giovanna Garofalo, Los Alamos Middle School.