Congratulating Karen Opoku-Appoh on Winning the 2023 Arizona Spelling Bee

Floor Speech

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Mr. CISCOMANI. Mr. Speaker, I rise to give a big congrats to a very impressive individual from Arizona's Sixth Congressional District.

Last month, Karen Opoku-Appoh, an 8th grader from Marana Middle School, won the 2023 Arizona Spelling Bee.

Karen correctly spelled the word ``passage'' to beat out 26 fellow competitors and become Arizona's spelling bee champion. Now she has the honor of representing her school, our district, and our entire State at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

Arizona is proud to have one of the highest spelling bee participation rates in the country, with over 480,000 students competing in private, public, and homeschool classrooms.

For decades, the Arizona Spelling Bee has motivated high-achieving students from across the State to get excited about spelling.

Mr. Speaker, I speak for our community in congratulating Karen on this remarkable achievement. Her hard work and drive have yielded an accomplishment that makes our entire State proud. Karen has been a shining example of the power of dreaming big.

Mr. Speaker, we will be rooting for Karen at nationals.

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