Two-Time Runner-Up Wins 2017 MISD District Spelling Bee

And then there were two.

Out of the original batch of 35 spelling bee contestants who made it to the district competition by being the winners at their campus bee, only two girls were left in round 10.

Ruth Oyerokun from Linda Jobe Middle School and Tojumi Olayiwole from Mary Orr Intermediate School battled it out for almost an hour on Feb. 10 to see who would be named the Mansfield ISD spelling champion.

Androcentric. Lithe. Folksiness. Polymer. Each word was spelled effortlessly—until the word to spell was hogan.

Olayiwole misspelled it, which gave Oyerokun the opportunity to correctly spell the next two words. T-r-a-w-l became her trophy-winning letters.

“I’m very happy,” said the seventh-grader. “This is my fourth spelling bee. I was runner-up in fourth and fifth grade.”

Olayiwole (left) and Oyerokun (right) were competitors and friends.

Winning was a little bitter-sweet for Oyerokun because the runner-up is her friend, but she said it felt satisfying to win after years of qualifying and preparing for the district bee.

“It feels good to finally not be behind someone,” she said. “I’ve been studying for the past two months for 30 minutes a day. My family has been very supportive and told me to learn from my past mistakes.”

The annual MISD Spelling Bee fosters public speaking skills, enhances vocabulary skills and builds self-confidence through friendly competition. It is just one of the ways the district and community come together to support literacy.

“One of the tenants of Rotary International is literacy,” said Randall Canedy from the Mansfield Sunrise Rotary Club, which sponsors the event. “[The spelling bee] isn’t the only thing we do, but it’s something we really enjoy and one of our favorite events of the year.”

Oyerokun already has her eyes set on her next prize. She’ll go on to compete at the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee on March 2 at Texas Christian University.

List of Contestants/Campus Winners

School	Student
Alice Ponder Elementary	William Curlin
Anna May Daulton Elementary	Morgan Taggart
Annette Perry Elementary	Emma Shatto
Asa Low Intermediate	Dante Perales
Brooks Wester Middle School	Cris Vint
Carol Holt Elementary	Jayden Maple
Charlotte Anderson Elementary	Drew Dazey
Cora Spencer Elementary	Jaden Marshall
Cross Timbers Intermediate	Tiffany Lam
D. P. Morris Elementary	Emma Griffith
Danny Jones Middle School	Elizabeth Mingle
Della Icenhower Intermediate	Mariam Dohadwala
Donna Shepard Intermediate	James Edwardsen
Elizabeth Smith Elementary	Kemi Morohunfola
Erma Nash Elementary	Joseph Oehlke
Glenn Harmon Elementary	Shayla Simms
Imogene Gideon Elementary	Trevin Lawson
J. L. Boren Elementary	Julia Rio
James Coble Middle School	Himadri Nath
Janet Brockett Elementary	Aaron Pradith
Judy Miller Elementary	Kojo Boadu
Kenneth Davis Elementary	Luke Dickey
Linda Jobe Middle School	Ruth Oyerokun (winner)
Louise Cabaniss Elementary	Ayush Shah
Martha Reid Elementary	Angel Brefo
Mary Jo Sheppard Elementary	Marcus Jones
Mary Lillard Intermediate	Nicolas Shea
Mary Orr Intermediate	Tojumi Olayiwole (runner-up)
Nancy Neal Elementary	Cadence Webb
Roberta Tipps Elementary	Ayaan Monga
Rogene Worley Middle School	Kennedy Johnson
T. A. Howard Middle School	Kashif Ghani
Tarver-Rendon Elementary	Joshua Oyerokun
Thelma Jones Elementary	Caitlyn Nguyen
Willie Brown Elementary	Cristian Rodriguez