For the second time in as many years, Vacaville boasts the top elementary speller in Solano County.
Francis Agbayani, a Browns Valley Elementary sixth-grader, correctly spelled "lackadaisical," besting Hans Romero, a sixth-grader at Solano Middle School in Vallejo, who stumbled on "perseverance."
After each boy went toe-to-toe through more than two dozen words, including one shared slip-up, Francis, standing onstage Tuesday night at the Nelson Community Center in Suisun City, beamed and raised his arms overhead in victory.
The 11-year-old had realized his quest, three years in the making, after losing out twice in the Grace B. Powell Citywide Spelling Bee and last year to Alex Topp at the city and county bees. Agbayani claimed top honors at the 2014 city bee on Feb. 5.
Last year, Alex, a Callison Elementary sixth-grader at the time, went on to be ranked among the top elementary spellers at the California State Elementary Spelling Bee in Stockton, where Francis and Hans will travel to April 26. There, they will compete against nearly 100 other spelling wizards.
"I'm feeling very excited right now," Francis said shortly after walking off with two sparkling 2-foot-tall trophies, one for him, the other for his school.
Wearing his shiny winner's medal around his neck and down in front of his sweatshirt, he said the secret to his spelling prowess -- besides his supportive mother and coach, Joannalyn -- was remembering how to spell words he had difficulty with.
But he seemed to have no problem breezing through such as "dichotomy," "ophthalmologist," "translucent," "superintendent," and "redoubt," with similarly difficult words flustering the nearly four dozen other students from across the county.
As for his chances at the state spell-off, Francis was unsure, saying, "I've never been to the state spelling bee."
Likewise, Hans said he would immediately begin to prepare for the state bee, with the help of his mother, Audrey.
Francis' sixth-grade teacher, Kim Campbell, smiled broadly and posed for a memento photo with her star student, whom, she said, "has worked so hard to get to this point."
"We always defer to him in class" if a spelling question arises, she added, smiling and nodding.
Browns Valley Assistant Principal Jo Anne Bucsko, also posing for a photo with Francis, said, "I am thrilled. He has worked so hard for so many years. It's his time."
Jay Speck, superintendent of the Solano County Office of Education, the bee's sponsor, said spelling was "a really important" academic skill, calling it "a vocabulary builder."
Lisette Estrella-Henderson, an associate superintendent at SCOE, said nurturing spelling skills can help a student learn words' origins and parts of speech, furthering their comprehension, among other things.
Joannalyn Agbayani said she will help her son prepare for the state bee by "going over old word lists" and by going online to hear them correctly pronounced.
After the county bee, Francis and his parents celebrated by going to a McDonald's restaurant.