Kids deliver ‘spellbinding’ performance

(CNS): Five primary school students made history on Tuesday night in the annual Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) Primary School Spelling Bee final when they all nailed every word. Oneika Duncan and Shante Reid of George Town Primary (GTPS), Jordanne Saunders of Cayman Academy, Javon Lewison of Prospect Primary (PPS) and Theodore Thompson of Truth for Youth captured the top honours when each of them spelt every word correctly. In a show of spelling genius, one by one the five dispatched words such as 'cinquefoil', 'proboscis' and 'coccyx', forcing the organisers to spend over an hour attempting to put together an entirely new set of words for a further spell off.

In the end, all five finalists who performed perfectly through to the end of the spell-off were declared first prize winners. Sponsors Royal Bank of Canada (RBC) and its Area Vice President, Michael Munnings, and the organisers decided to up the prize stakes and give all of the participants the first prize when the kids simply could not be caught out.

Reigning champion GTPS retained the Best School trophy, with a winning score of 89 earned by a talented trio of girls that also included finalist Jessica Stewart.

Since the RBC-sponsored spelling bee began in 1998, GTPS has won top honours six times, although Creek and Spot Bay Primary leads with seven titles. Other winners have been Prospect Primary twice and Bodden Town Primary once.

At the same time, all 15 finalists, nine boys and six girls, turned out to be winners with performances that kept the audience of parents, teachers, family members, friends and well-wishers enthralled for nearly four hours.

Munnings said he was proud to have been a part of the wonderful display of talent by the youngsters in this 16th Annual RBC Royal Bank Spelling Bee Competition.

“At RBC, we realize the importance of developing our youth, and we remain committed to this investment, to facilitate a successful future for them and our community at large. Congratulations to all, and especially to our five-way, first place winners," he said.

Other finalists included: Deidre Edwards – BTPS; Okezie Eleweanya – Cayman Academy; Thomas Sevik – Creek & Spot Bay Primary; Andrew McLaughlin – First Baptist; Samuel White and Patrick Thompson – PPS – Shmritee Arun – St. Ignatius Primary; and Dequan Smith and Thaddeus Solomon – Savannah Primary.