Local student places 5th at ACSI California Divisional Spelling Bee

Matthew B. Haller, a sixth grader at Horizon Prep in Rancho Santa Fe, recently won 5th place at the 2022-2023 ACSI California Divisional Spelling Bee in Westminster, Calif., receiving a trophy for his accomplishment. This spelling bee covered the entire state of California and involved 28 spellers, grades 5-8, who had progressed from their respective district spelling bees. To compete at this divisional level bee, earlier this year Matthew won 1st place in his district spelling bee in Carlsbad, where he competed with 15 other spellers on words ranging from 5th grade to 8th grade in difficulty.

Matthew B. Haller with his 5th place state trophy.

(Michael Haller)

Matthew has been an avid reader from a young age, often checking out a dozen books at a time from the local public library and sitting in the threshold of his home afterward since he could not wait to begin digesting his new books. He believes that this love of reading has helped him during the spelling bees, since while at the early stages of the bees words are chosen from a publicized list of more than 2,000 words that can be studied, at the latter stages they go “off-list” that are often words that he has encountered during his readings. Also, as many words in the English language have a Latin origin, he is grateful that he has been able to study Latin at Horizon Prep.