Kimberly Chun, an eighth-grader at Our Savior Lutheran School in 'Aiea, won the Central O'ahu District spelling bee last night and will move on to the state spelling contest.

Beating out more than two dozen other contestants in the competition at Moanalua Middle School, Chun correctly spelled "mootable" and "mikado" to clinch the title.

It was the second year Chun has competed in the district bee, and this time she made sure to ask more questions during the contest. She also studied more, practicing during lunchtime and after school for the last couple of weeks.

"I really wanted to go to states, because you get to learn more," said Chun, daughter of Marcus and Susan Jean Chun. "You learn all those words, and it's a new experience every time."

Chun's teacher and spelling coach, Margaret Ulm, said Chun takes her work seriously.

"She will make a huge effort to make sure that she puts 110 percent into it," Ulm said. "She wants to learn words at the same time. ... She'll go that extra effort to look it up and make sure that she understands the definition of the word. I think that's the most important thing in the spelling bee."

Chun and runner-up Ramil Lorenzo Gonzalez, a Mililani Middle School seventh-grader, will advance to The Advertiser's 23nd annual Hawai'i State Spelling Bee on March 16. It will be televised on Oceanic cable channel 16.

The state winner will get a trip to Washington, D.C., to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 29 and 30.

Here are the district winners so far and the remaining bees: