by 
Joseph Marquez, a seventh grade student at Ray Elementary School, correctly spelled “opulent” and “prominent” to win the 2012-13 Ray Unified District #3 Scripts Spelling Bee held Dec.18 in the Ray District auditorium.
Joseph is the son of Mr. Felix Marquez of Winkelman. Marquez defeated 24 other spellers and will now represent the Ray District in the Pinal County Spelling Bee to be held in Casa Grande in February.
Finishing in second place was Myranda Figueroa, a sixth grade student, daughter of Rudy and Rebecca Figueroa of Kearny. Hailey Rutter, also a sixth grade student and last year’s champion, finished third. Hailey is the granddaughter of Kathy and Allan Rutter of Kearny.
Both Figueroa, and Rutter will also represent the District at the county level competition. Rounding out the alternate placements were Kailey Gillaspy (fourth place), Gabby Montano (fifth place) and Jonah Cude, the 2010 champion in sixth place.
Marquez will now join the following list of past champions from 1980-present day. Chris Lorona (‘81), Teri Garrity (‘82-‘84), Roman Magdaleno (‘85), Bettina Celis (‘86), Kenny Rios (‘87), Debbie Gonzales (‘88), Scott Warren (‘89), Robert Perez (‘90), Danielle Rios (‘91-‘93), Kelly Birkett (‘94), Lisa Eaton (‘95), Luis Martinez (‘96), Brandy Myrick (‘97), Roberto Lopez (‘98), Jessica Skillings (‘99), Erika Flores (2000), Seth Craig (‘01), Marcos Esquivel (‘02), Aleynia Boatman (‘03), Michaelene Mann (‘04), Sean Gillway (‘05-06), Anissa Newman (‘07), Phillip Kittrell (‘08), Brian Skillings (‘09), Jonah Cude (‘10), Kenneth Palmer/Jonah Cude (‘11), Hailey Rutter (‘12) and Joseph Marquez (‘13).
by by