The five finalists of the 2018 Spelling Bee
8th Annual Rotary-Rotaract Spelling Bee Plans Underway
Another summer vacation has ended and while the students are settling back into the classrooms, some students aged 9-10 years will be preparing for the 8th Annual Rotary-Rotaract Spelling Bee Competition, which the main organizer ‘The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle’ has been planning for the last ten months. The event will start with the preliminaries on Sunday October 20th.
The objective of this Spelling Bee is to improve literacy and enhance the students’ educational experience. Mid Isle are confident that this year’s Spelling Bee will be successful once again.
All three events are being held at ‘The Belair Community Center’. The Preliminaries will be held on Sunday October 20th, the semi-finals on Sunday October 27th and the finals on Sunday November 3rd 2019. The Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle and the Sunrise Rotaract Club encourage all parents, family, friends and the public to come out and support the students. There will be a prize for the school with the best group of supporters. Food and drinks will be available for the students during the breaks.
The top 15 finishers of the preliminary round will head into the semi-finals on Sunday October 27th. The top five finishers of the semi-finals will head to the final round on Sunday November 3rd.
As in previous years, participating schools will benefit from the proceeds of ‘The Spelling Bee’ by being able to submit a ‘Wish List’ for any items they may need at their respective school. In previous years wish list items have included projectors, screens, computers etc. All participants will receive goody bags while winning pupils and schools receive additional prizes.
The popular tutorial sessions for the Spelling Bee participants will be held on Saturdays, September 21st & 28th, and October 5th at The University of St. Maarten (USM). The students will be assisted by Rotarians and Rotaractors to learn the words which will give them a better chance to advance to the semi-final and final round of the Spelling Bee.
Last years’ finalists were asked for their comments on the Spelling Bee and their comments ranged from ‘It was good’, ‘It was fun’, ‘It was a lot of words’, ‘They learnt many words’ and ‘There was a lot of studying that had to be done’