Las Cruces middle school student shares win in National Spanish Spelling Bee

Mesa Middle School seventh grader Natalia Acosta-Briones earned first place at the 2023 National Spanish Spelling Bee (NSSB) held July 1 in El Paso. After five hours of spelling competition, a tie was declared between Natalia and Emilio Fuentes of Woodlands, Texas.

Natalia has been competing in NSSB since she was a student at Sunrise Elementary School, Las Cruces Public Schools said in a news release. She took first place in the LCPS 2022-23 district Spanish Spelling Bee and was third in that year’s state Spanish Spelling Bee. Last year, Natalia took second at the 2021-22 NSSB.

“Teachers and staff from bilingual education, translation and interpretation and community outreach, including her advisors and teachers at Sunrise Elementary and Mesa Middle School, are all proud of Natalia,” said GeAnn Killgore, coordinator of English Learner Programs K-12 in the LCPS Bilingual Education Department. “She’s a hard worker and we’re so proud that this year she did tie for first place, and she just continues building those leadership skills.”

NSSB 2023 brought together 28 spelling champions from across the United States.

“Spellers showcased their exceptional skills in Spanish, meticulously tackling high-difficulty words such as 'incognoscible' and 'moaxaja,'” LCPS said.

"Both Emilio and Natalia proved to be outstanding spellers and deserved the first-place title," NSSB Founder and Coordinator David Briseño said. "It gives me great joy to know we have such determined and poised young people in this competition."

NSSB is for students in grades four-eight. Competitors must have placed in a state or regional Spanish spelling bee in the same year as the national spelling bee to compete in the NSSB. The first NSSB was held in 2011.

Visit nationalspanishspellingbee.com.