For Dominic Lanag-MacDula, this coming school year 2020-2021 will be his last chance to repeat being the Clark Country School District (CCSD) Spelling Bee champion and to have another crack as the State of Nevada’s standard bearer.
While he is the state champion, he is quite aware of the enormous talents of the Indian-Americans in spelling, having won the nationals year in, year out in the last 20 years.
Dominic, who traces his ancestry to Baguio City and Besao and Sagada, Mountain Province, is the 2019-2020 Seventh Grader Spelling Bee champion of the CCSD, Nevada, considered the fifth largest school district by enrollment in the United States.
He is also in the District’s Gifted and Talented in Education Program, along with his younger brother Noah, who will be in the fourth grade this school year.
Dominic is also the first student of Ernest Becker Middle School to become a district champion and represent his school to the state championship.
The scheduled contest last March 24 was cancelled however due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the National Spelling for 2020 was also abandoned.
Dominic is the grandson of Baguio boy Sahnee Lanag, who also traces his roots to Besao and Sagada.
His mother Verity Jane Lanag-MacDula was born in Chula Vista, San Diego, California but completed her K-12 education in Benicia, CA. They lived in Southampton, Benicia, CA for 12 years before her parents moved to Nevada in 1999.
Dominic’s parents and grandparents live in Summerlin, Nevada, just less than two miles apart. – Press release
April 19, 2024
