11 primary schools from across the tri-island state are preparing to grace the stage at the Rotaract Spelling Bee finals.
The schools and their participants’ are:
- Angel Augustine of Beacon Junior School
- Wynnade Garraway of Beaulieu New Testament
- Tyler Telesford of Constantine Methodist
- Mikayla McNeil of Hillsborough Government
- Zafirah Bain of Grace Lutheran School
- Kayla Mitchell of Grenada Junior Academy
- Thierry Bethel of Petite Martinique RC
- Berniah Forrester of St John’s Anglican School
- Geisel Joseph of St Louis’ Girls RC
- Raldimir Adams of St Matthew RC
- Dennison Augustine of the Uganda Martyrs School
On 16 January at the Deluxe Cinema, 33 schools battled during the preliminaries for a maximum of 20 spots available in the semi-finals. 18 schools advanced to the semis and the elimination continued until 11 were selected to participate in the finals.
The winning student of the competition will receive $1,000 in an education savings plan compliments Sagicor Life Inc., an Alcatel Tablet and 3 months free broadband service from LIME, $150 in stationery items from Bryden and Minors Ltd. and a first place trophy compliments Geo. F. Huggins & Co. G’da Ltd. The winning school will also receive $1,000 towards a project of their choice.
At the opening ceremony, the club’s PRO, Zoe Hagley, reiterated Rotaract’s heartfelt appreciation to all the sponsors. “We really need to take the time to thank our sponsors, who have made this event possible: Grenlec, Sagicor, Grenada Public Service Co-operative Credit Union, Netherlands Insurance, Republic Bank, LIME, Bryden and Minors, Geo. F Huggins & Co. G’da Ltd., Deyna’s City Inn, Osprey Lines, S. Kumar Variety Store and the Rotary Club of Grenada. Without the support of these companies and organisations, our spelling bee would not have come to fruition. ”
This is the 29th year the Rotaract Club is hosting its annual spelling bee competition, but this is the first time the competition took on an “on-the-spot” elimination format. “After intense research, we noted the format used in regional and international spelling bee competitions”, explained Rotaract’s Community Service Director, Kizzy Simon. “We wanted to ensure our spelling bee was on par with other spelling bees around the world. This way, if our winning student wishes to pursue other competitions, he or she will already be familiar with the structure.” She continued by saying, “in the past, our competition spanned over 6 weeks, and we realized it was a strain on our human resource and the students.”
The club also undertook another first — It funded the travel and accommodation for 2 students from the Sister Isles for the preliminaries and semi-finals. Speaking on this, the club’s president, Diyanna Gulston said, “Though the structure of the competition has changed, we couldn’t exempt the students from Carriacou and Petite Martinique. This is the first time we’ve made arrangements for the students to travel to Grenada for the preliminaries and semi-finals. With the generous assistance of the Osprey Lines and Deyna’s City Inn, we were able to ensure they were present for the competition, and both students will be participating in the finals!”
The finals of the 29th Annual Rotaract Spelling Bee, will be held on 23 January in the auditorium of the Grenada Boys Secondary School.
