The five finalists of the eighth annual Rotary/Rotaract Spelling Bee.
BELAIR–Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle and Rotaract Club of St. Maarten Sunrise held the semi-finals of their eighth annual Rotary/Rotaract Spelling Bee on Sunday, October 27. Five pupils will now head to the final round, which will be held at Belair Community Centre at 1:00pm Sunday, November 3.
The 10 semi-finalists represented seven schools – five in St. Maarten and two in Anguilla. The seven semi-finalists from St. Maarten were Ashmini Persaud (Hillside Christian Schools Asha Stevens campus), Sherine Lalwani (St. Dominic Primary School), Jemaiah Etrenne (St. Joseph School), Pierre Pompignan (Seventh-Day Adventist School), and Jeremiah Cantave, Bhumi Dayalani, and Kushaan Sharma (Methodist Agogic Centre Browlia F. Maillard Campus). The three semi-finalists from Anguilla were Mikalia Richardson (Alwyn Allison Richardson Primary School), and Emily Gumbs and Janselah Bruno (Valley Primary School). The moderator for the semi-final round was Amanda Bedminister. The judge’s panel comprised Rotary Mid Isle Vice President Denise Antrobus (head judge), Rotarian Davy Moree, and Rotarian Yvette Hart. Rotary Mid Isle President Aernout Kraaijeveld was the event’s timekeeper and Rotaractor Tisianna Hart was the logistic technician. The invocation was given by Hart and the St. Maarten Song was led by Rotary Mid Isle Secretary Grace Linger. In the preliminary round participants had to write the selected words on a sheet of paper. However, for the semi-final round participants were required to stand in front of the audience and judges and spell out the selected words. Each participant had 20 words to spell. This was done in two rounds, with 10 words being given to each participant in each round. Each correctly-spelled word was worth five points. It was a close finish, with Sherine of St. Dominic Primary School and Mikalia of Anguilla’s Alwyn Allison Richardson Primary School tying for the last spot in the final. They both had perfect scores from the preliminary round and thus a spell-off had to be done to break the tie. Both girls were then given another five words to spell. Mikalia won the spell-off and will be joining Jeremiah and Kushaan (Methodist Agogic Centre Browlia F. Maillard Campus), Emily (Alwyn Allison Richardson Primary School), and Janselah (Valley Primary School) in the final round. Family, friends, classmates and teachers are invited to come out to support the finalists, said the clubs in a press release. There is also a prize for the school with the largest number of supporters, they said. Tickets for a raffle will also be on sale. The first raffle prize is a 50-inch smart television (TV) donated by Shop and Take. The second raffle prize is a 40-inch smart TV donated by Music Man. The raffle will be drawn at the completion of the final round. The winners are required to be present at the finals to claim their prizes, said the clubs. Rotary Club of St. Maarten-Mid Isle meets at Pineapple Pete in Simpson Bay on Tuesdays at 7:00pm. For more information persons can send an e-mail to rotarysxm.mi@gmail.com or visit the club’s Facebook page.
Source: The Daily Herald https://www.thedailyherald.sx/islands/92072-five-pupils-head-to-finals-of-rotary-rotaract-spelling-bee
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