Get out your pencil and paper and take note of some of the latest news items from Peoria Unified School District (PUSD).

Peoria Students Shine at District Spelling Bee
PUSD recently held their annual District Spelling Bee where top spellers from across the district competed in front of their peers. The winner of this year’s Annual District Spelling Bee is Ethan Greenwood from Coyote Hills Elementary School. Greenwood won in the 12th round with the word “quinary.”

The seven runners-up include:
• Archer Hill from Apache Elementary School
• Jackson McLean from Lake Pleasant Elementary School
• Brian Fielder from Sun Valley Elementary School
• Aidan Clark from Desert Harbor Elementary School
• Vinh Le from Parkridge Elementary School
• Gerald Sanchez from Oakwood Elementary School
• Julia Bergner from Heritage Elementary School

To see a replay of the spelling bee, community members can watch it on the district’s official YouTube channel (go to YouTube and search “PUSDOfficialChannel”).

CTE Students Compete in Peoria Unified Building Design Challenge
On Thursday, Feb. 10, students from the construction programs at Raymond S. Kellis High School, Peoria High School and Centennial High School competed against one another in a building design challenge. This year, the Regional Skills Competition was cancelled so Peoria Unified CTE Department re-created its own challenge for students from multiple high schools. While the competition was close, Centennial High School won the “Best Peoria Unified CTE Construction Program 2022” award.

In addition to construction, examples of other CTE programs offered in Peoria Unified include accounting, finance, hospitality, fire science, nursing, culinary, and more. For more information about any of the district’s CTE programs, visit the district’s website at peoriunified.org/cte or call 623-486-6000.