Banning 9-Year-Old To Represent Riverside County At State Elementary Spelling Bee in Stockton

Citra Benhar, a 9-year-old 5th-grader from Banning, is one of two elementary school-age students who will represent Riverside County at the California State Elementary Spelling Bee on April 16 in Stockton.

Citra spelled out of the Riverside County Spelling Bee on Wednesday in Moreno Valley on the word "absquatulate" -- which came from a "confidential, secret list" of words the competitors were not given to study.

The word means "to decamp or abscond," said Tracey Rivas, Programs and Student Activities Facilitator for the Riverside County Office of Education.

When bee judge and criminal defense attorney Virginia Blumenthal intoned, "Spellmaster, the correct spelling for absquatulate is . . . " some observers thought Citra was done for the day.

But the Riverside County bee included middle school students, and during the 12th round in which Citra was eliminated, two other elementary-age students also spelled out, leaving only one elementary speller in the competition.

At the end of the Riverside County bee, officials held another spell-off for the elementary children - because the county must have two elementary school representatives at the State Elementary Bee, Rivas said.

Citra won the final round by correctly spelling "triage" and "logomania."

"She's going on to the State Elementary Bee because she is one of the top two elementary spellers in Riverside County," Rivas said.

Citra's mother and father and two of her sisters were at the County Bee.

"I was more scared than Citra, because I don't know the words," mother Diana Benhar said. "But Citra, I know she will be doing good, because she studies hard."

Citra won the Banning Unified School District Spelling Bee in January.

She was in 3rd grade last May, skipped 4th grade and started 5th grade in September. She speaks English and Spanish, and she says she doesn't have a favorite subject. She likes all her classes at Susan B. Coombs Intermediate School: reading, language and social studies, math and sciences.

"Other kids can understand from Citra, you can reach your goals," Diana Benhar said. "You just have to apply yourself, and do your best, and you will achieve."

Diana and Suttichai Benhar, originally from Jakarta, Indonesia, have been in Banning nine years. They are proud of all four of their daughters, who include Bridget, 17, Valora, 19, and Chanda, 21.

The family will be with Citra in Stockton next month.

Asked how she does so well in spelling and in school, Citra smiled, pointed at Bridget and said, "This girl right here!"

Bridget, a five-time spelling bee winner in Banning, countered right away: "It's not even me. She studies a lot."