PHILIPSBURG, Sint Maarten – In October and November 2019, another Spelling Bee will be organized by the Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle and the Rotaract Club of St. Martin Sunrise for 9 and 10-year-old primary school students on St. Maarten and Anguilla. The children can win great prizes, thanks to the business community on St. Maarten, who graciously sponsored this event. Special thanks go out to Scotiabank, who continues to be the main sponsor of this event, after being the naming sponsor for several years. In order to prepare the participants, three tutorials sessions were organized by the Spelling Bee Committee under the chairmanship of Rotarian Jon Hart. After the session on September 21st was cancelled due to inclement weather, it was decided to increase the remaining two tutorials to three hours instead of two hours, to make up the lost time from the first cancelled tutorial session. A big Thank you goes out to the University of St. Martin (USM), for making their class rooms available for these sessions.
On Saturday September 28th eighteen participants from eight schools on St. Maarten gathered at the USM for their first tutorial session. Rotarians from The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle, St. Dominic High Interactors and Rotaractors from the Rotaract Club of St. Martin Sunrise volunteered their time to coach the participants.
The final tutorial session will be held at the USM on Saturday October 5th from 11am-2pm, Once again volunteers will be helping the participants to practice the words, and to prepare the participants for the different formats in the preliminary round, the semi-final and the final. This week they will also practice writing the words in preparation for the preliminary round, and with time permitting there will even be some spell out action. Of course, the participants will need to continue to practice in school and at home. All Spelling Bee Participants are invited and encouraged to attend this last tutorial session.
To date 36 participants from St. Maarten and Anguilla Schools have registered for the Spelling Bee. The preliminary round kicks off on Sunday October 20th at the Belair Community Center. The top 10 highest scorers from the preliminary round will head to the semi-final round on Sunday October 27th. The top five highest scorers from the semi-final round will head to the final round on Sunday November 3rd. Parents, family and friends are all invited to come out and support the participants at the Belair Community Center.
The objective of this Spelling Bee is to improve literacy and enhance the students’ educational experience, while making new news friends from other schools on St. Maarten and Anguilla. The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle and the Rotaract Club of St. Martin Sunrise are confident that this year’s Spelling Bee will be successful once again.
For more information please contact rotarysxm.mi@gmail.com or visit our face book page Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle. For more information on the Sunrise Rotaract Club, please visit their Facebook page “Rotaract Club of St. Martin Sunrise”.
