 Amy
Chyao, a sixth grade student at Murphy Middle
School, will travel to Washington,
D.C., in late May to participate in the Scripps National
Spelling Bee. She
will represent North and East Texas as the Dallas Morning
News Regional Spelling Bee champion.
On
Saturday, March 18, Amy out-spelled 28 fellow contestants
to win the regional bee. Earlier this school year, she won
her school, district and county spelling bees.
Pictured
Above: Amy celebrated her regional victory with (l-r) Brooke
Chandler, Dallas
Morning
News community services sponsorship executive and spelling
bee coordinator, and Pronouncer Sherry Coleman.
"Spelling
has always come easy to me," said
Amy, who explained that the words that are more difficult
to spell always come from root words. "As long
as you know
the root words,
you can put the larger
words
together."
Amy
has been hooked on spelling bees since the third grade at
Stinson Elementary School. As
she watched a fifth grade spelling bee in action, she thought..."I
know how to spell those words." Since that day, she
has been inspired to hone her spelling skills.
 A
devoted student,
Amy said, "I
always finish my homework first, and then I
practice spelling." An award-winning cellist
in her school orchestra, Amy's favorite
subjects are math and science. ("Math is logical,
step-by-step, and comes easy for me.") and playing
select basketball with the PSA Jaguars.
("We've won a few tournaments.")
Pictured
Above: Collin County Spelling Bee Winners Amy Chyao, Murphy
Middle School (left), and Andrea Chang (Runner Up) from
Frankford Middle School, with Bee Pronouncer Steven Lawson.
Preparing
for the national spelling bee will keep Amy busy, especially
in April when
she receives
a new list of words to review. Once in D.C., she and students
from across the country will tour city sights before heading
into the
first rounds of competition.
Teacher
Comments
"Amy
is dedicated to academics and always puts forth 100% effort
in her assignments. She is a winner in everything she does.
She placed in both the school and regional science fair
and the history fair. Amy will advance to the National History
Day competition in Austin on April 28-29. She is kind and
generous to all her classmates and teachers, and it is a privilege
to have her in my sixth grade PACE class at Murphy Middle School."
-Donna
Jenkins - PACE (Plano Academic Creative Education) Gifted & Talented
Teacher
"Amy
is a wonderful student and classmate. Even after
her win on Saturday, she is the same sweet, kind, shy girl
she
has
always
been. She seems embarrassed by all the attention. All the students
are excited for her too."
-Beth
Benners, Sixth Grade Language Arts Teacher
Pictured
Above: Plano ISD students who were winners in the Collin
County Spelling
Bee include (l-r) Helen Xiong - Bethany Elementary School,
Alan Zhao - Rice Middle School, Emily Mikhail - Carpenter
Middle School, Amy Chyao - Murphy Middle School, and Yemi
Adewuyi - Murphy
Middle School.
Not shown are Andrea
Chang - Frankford Middle School, and Andrew Wei - Beverly
Elementary School.
2005-06
Accomplishments - Amy Chyao
District,
County and Regional Spelling Bee Champion
Plano
ISD Elementary Science Fair - "Third Place"
Regional
Elementary Science Fair - "Team Grand Prize"
Regional
History Fair - "Second Place"
Murphy
Middle School Orchestra (Cello):
- Solo & Ensemble
Festival - "Exemplary
Musician Award"
- Sight
Reading Contest - "School Sweepstakes
Award"
Amy
is the daughter of Kate Wang and Tim Chow. She also shares
her home with pet albino rabbit "Fur Ball." 
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