Most people can’t define the word “loggia,” let alone spell it, but that was the term that crowned a Monterey County seventh grader champion of the 2026 county spelling bee.

Seren Kim of the Monterey Peninsula Unified School District out-spelled 33 other students to win the Monterey County Spelling Bee on Feb. 21. Her winning word, “loggia,” means a covered, open-air gallery or room often attached to an existing building.

As county winner, Kim will represent Monterey County at the prestigious Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., in May.

She also got a $300 prize from the county and shwag from Scripps such as reference materials, online subscriptions and a six-night stay in D.C.

Katy St. Clair got her start in journalism by working in the classifieds department at the East Bay Express during the height of alt weeklies, then sweet talked her way into becoming staff writer, submissions editor, and music editor. She has been a columnist in the East Bay Express, SF Weekly, and the San Francisco Examiner. Starting in 2015, she begrudgingly scaled the inverted pyramid at dailies such as the Vallejo Times-Herald, The Vacaville Reporter, and the Daily Republic. She has her own independent news site and blog that covers the delightfully dysfunctional town of Vallejo, California, where she also collaborates with the investigative team at Open Vallejo. A passionate advocate for people with developmental disabilities, she serves on both the Board of the Arc of Solano and the Arc of California. She lives in Vallejo.