Adults Out-Spell Official Spelling List
Adults were put to the test on Saturday 8 September 2012, when the BVI Reading Council hosted its All Stars Adult Spelling Bee on Literacy Day. This was a part of the Council’s 17th Anniversary celebrations.
The Rotary Club of Road Town, known for its involvement in literacy and education, was invited to officiate at the event.
Adult Teams on Stage with Master of Ceremonies President Trefor
Photo Credit: Charles Crane
The event was baseball themed and President Trefor led the officials as Coach (master of ceremonies), Director Tiffany was the Umpire (judge), Rtn Rodney Herbert was Timekeeper and Rtn Sonia Webster Score Keeper. PE Charles welcomed contestants and supporters to the competition and introduced the panel of officials. The Pitcher (pronouncer) was Ms. Eugenie Donovan-Glasgow a former educator.
It was an evening of entertainment and fun as eight teams of 3 persons, battled for dominance.
The L-o-q-u-a-c-i-o-u-s master of ceremonies pondered, then put to good use the word “okey-dokey” that had been pitched by the pronouncer and successfully spelt by a participant in an early round. The contestants had obviously been mugging up on their spelling and the words became more difficult as the evening progressed. At the end of ten rounds only one team was struck out with three misspelled words. Two teams, Vipers and The Bee Team had perfect scores.
Given the e-x-e-m-p-l-a-r-y performance of the teams, the pronouncer in an unexpected twist, ran out of official words during the course of the competition. The resourceful officials, took to the dictionary and quickly sourced a new slate of even more challenging words for the indomitable spellers. The competition went into the “sudden death” where the Vipers (comprised two lawyers and a doctor) came out victorious by a small margin over The Bee Team (three journalists). Following this there was a tightly competitive play off for third place in which IDPS Alumni and Spoken slammed a succession of increasingly difficult words in a performance that left many in awe. In the end, Spoken walked away with a well deserved third place.
Winning Team "Vipers" Receiving Trophy from LIME Representative
Photo Credit: Charles Crane
The event was organized by educator Lynden Smith and sponsored by LIME and the Ministry of Education & Culture. The Rotary Club of Road Town also regularly supports and assists with the annual territory wide Secondary Schools Spelling Bee.
To see press release go to: http://www.virginislandsnewsonline.com/en/news/vipers-snap-up-spelling-bee-honours