On May 1, 1999, the California State Elementary Spelling Bee was held in El Molino High school in Forestville, about 60 miles north of San Francisco. 51 out of the 54 contestants were there (not every county participates). The contest was held in the gym.
     The contest started out with the easy words from the list Aaron had to practice for the Santa Barbara County Spelling Bee. The contest continued with other words, some of which Aaron had never heard of before then. The first two rounds were easy words so that the contestants could get used to the routine: one row of 6 contestants at a time lined up behind the podium, then in turn they went up to the microphone to spell their word, then they sat down or returned to the audience if they got their word wrong. There is an element of chance, since each student gets a new word. This year it was especially hard at the beginning because the wireless microphone system kept making loud crackling sounds, often right when the contestants were trying to spell their words. They said the wireless microphone was picking up static from the video cameras. The people didn't stop filming, so finally when a girl didn't understand her word (she spelled impediment instead of decadent), they turned off the system altogether and moved the judges close to the contestants.
     The whole contest went ten rounds before the final tiebreaker. One student got out in the first round, because she spelled compel with two L's. 3 got out in the next round. Round three got more difficult, and 8 more got out. In round four 10 more missed their words. By round eight 12 contestants were left, and only half of them got to round nine. Aaron had never heard of his word, obsequious, in that round, but he used logic to spell it correctly. No one got out in that round. Round ten really got a lot of contestants out: four of the 6 missed their words, namely indigenous, subterranean, maneuverable, reconnaissance, and rendezvous. Aaron's word was renaissance, which he knew. Then only Aaron and Jason from Alameda County were left. They went four rounds before Aaron got a very hard word, Philippines. He spelled it wrong, but didn't mind because he knew he would at least get second place, and he hadn't thought he would even get that far.
     The judges interviewed the winners of the trophies, and they told the audience a little about them when they got their trophies.
     Aaron and his dad went out for lunch and then spent the weekend in San Francisco doing fun things.