PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – Last Sunday the five finalists that had qualified for the 8th Annual Rotary & Rotaract Spelling Bee headed to the Belair Community Center to go head to head to determine the champion. The five finalists were from the Mac Browlia F. Maillard Campus Jeremiah Cantave and Kushaan Sharma, from the Alwyn Allison School in Anguilla were Mikalia Richardson and Emily Gumbs, and Jansela Bruno from the Valley Primary School in Anguilla. These three girls and two boys were joined by a large crowd of family, friends, classmates and teachers to support and cheer them on.
The 8th Annual Rotary/Rotaract Spelling Bee 2019 was held in three consecutive rounds. The first round, the Preliminary round had 35 participants from 13 schools, the children had to spell the selected 20 words on paper. The top ten finishers from the Preliminary round went onto the Semi-finals. The ten Semi-finalists from seven schools had to spell out their words into a microphone in front of the judges. The top five highest finishers from the Semi-finals went onto the final Round. All thirty-five participants represented their respective school admirably.
Attending the finals event was Prime minister Wycliff Smith, who thanked all parents and teachers for helping the participants to get to this point. Also thanked were the organizers and judges for a wonderful event and wished all the participants good luck. Rotary District 7020 Assistant Governor Marcellia Henry congratulated the parents for supporting and motivating their children and being present to cheer their child on. She praised the teachers for their dedication and selfless sacrifice in preparing the contestants to do their best, and for them to be proud of this great achievement. They were told they are super stars and not many persons can do what they have done during this spelling Bee.
The judges were introduced, moderator Amanda Bedminister, Head Judge Vice President Denise Antrobus, judges Rotarian Davy Moree and Mrs. Yvette Hart, the time keeper was President Aernout Kraaijeveld and logistics tech Rotaractor Tisiana Hart. The invocation was given by Mrs. Yvette Hart and the St. Maarten Song was led by Secretary Grace Linger.
The finish was very close but clear cut. In 1st place receiving a trophy and Apple iMac 21.5” computer was Emily Gumbs from the Alwyn Allison School in Anguilla. The winning school also won a desktop computer with 27” monitor and a WiFi printer. Emily also received a perfect score in all three rounds. In 2nd place receiving a trophy and an Apple Macbook Air laptop was Kushaan Sharma from the Mac Browlia F. Maillard Campus. In 3rd place receiving a trophy and an iPad was Mikalia Richardson from the Alwyn Allison School in Anguilla. In 4th place receiving a Fitbit watch was Jeremiah Cantave from Mac Browlia F. Maillard Campus and in 5th place also receiving a Fitbit watch was Jansela Bruno from the Valley Primary School in Anguilla.
The school winning the printer for the most supportive school was the Alwyn Allison Primary school Anguilla, who’s supporters came in large numbers for all three events.
Two Smart TV’s were raffled, Rotary Anguilla Secretary Shemica Hodge won the 40” and Davina McAlmont won the 50” Smart TV.
The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle and The Sunrise Rotaract Club would like to thank all the sponsors and donors without whose help we could not have held the 8th successful Rotary & Rotaract Spelling Bee.
The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle meets at Pineapple Pete in Simpson Bay on Tuesdays at 7:00pm. For more information, persons can send an e-mail to rotarysxm.mi@gmail.com or visit the Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle’s Facebook page.
