Middle
School Sixth Grade Student Headed to National Spelling
Bee
March 20, 2006
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.
Amy
Chyao (center) is pictured with Brooke Chandler, spelling bee coordinator,
and Sherry Coleman, pronouncer.
"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.")
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
Accomplishments
- District, County and Regional Spelling
Bee Champion
- Plano ISD Elementary Science Fair - Third
Place
- Regional Elementary Science Fair - Sixth
Grade 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."
Related Links
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(Lauren
D'Avolio's report)
