Jackson spells her way to the top

Aranique Jackson of the Kingstown Preparatory School is the winner of the Rotaract Club Kingstown Haliborange Seven Seas 12th Annual Spelling Bee competition 2010. The competition took place at the Frenches House on Saturday, November 6.{{more}}

Jackson outspelled her fellow competitors to cop the first prize of a Dell laptop, a trophy and an all-in-one printer for her school. She will also represent St. Vincent and the Grenadines at the regional competition in St. Lucia on November 27. The reigning champion of the regional competition is Ajay Miller, also of the Kingstown Preparatory School.

Simeon Green Jr, a tiny lad of the Diamond Government School, took the second position, winning $1,500 compliments the Bank of Nova Scotia. Bequia Anglican School student Giovanni Lewis settled for third place and was awarded a $500 voucher for school books and uniform, valid until September 11, 2011.

The competitors endured two rounds of spelling, with each round having 10 categories. Students had to tackle words such as anchovy, esophagus and succotash. They were also quizzed on the villages and towns and landmarks of St. Vincent and the Grenadines such as La Soufriere volcano and the heritage site at Wallilabou.

A few members of the audience also took part in the spelling fun, as four boys had the opportunity to win prizes by spelling words. The school with the most supporters in the audience, the Layou Government School, also won an HP printer for their school.

Remarks were made by several sponsors and partners of the competition including Coreas and the Ministry of Education, who pledged their support to the competition. The other sponsors of the competition are Courts SVG Ltd., Bank of Nova Scotia and LIME.

The other finalists are as follows: Adam Bailey of the Georgetown Secondary School, Xharia Jack of the Gomea Methodist School, Justin Simeon of the Layou Government School, Joleen Grant of the Stubbs Primary School and Shana Jack of the Troumaca Government School.

The competition began on October 11, 2010, with 42 students from eight zones. The objective of the competition is to promote literacy while building the confidence of local primary school students.