Twenty-one contestants, nine of whom are from the Family Islands, will vie in-person for the title of Bahamas National Spelling Bee champion and the opportunity to represent The Bahamas at the Scripps National Spelling Bee. But the win won’t be easy for any of the contestants, especially with two former top spellers returning for a shot at the title in Roy Seligman, a Lyford Cay International School student who is also a two-time champion, and Maria Sanchez, a student at Queen’s College who is looking to improve on her third place showing from 2020.
The national spelling bee is scheduled to be held March 21, at the Geoffrey Brown Auditorium at 3 p.m.
“We decided to do it in-person because we wish to uphold integrity of the competition,” said Cylestina Williams, president of Bahamas National Spelling Bee Committee.
“It’s not a preliminary round but the finals, and we have nine contestants that are coming in from the Family Islands; and so the best way to do it is face-to-face,” said Williams, who is acting curriculum enhancement officer, student services education at the Ministry of Education.
Considering the pandemic and keeping safety protocols in mind, the competition will not be open to the public – only contestants, one coach per contestant, officials and committee members responsible for
overseeing the competition will be allowed into the venue, which she said is spacious enough to allow for six feet of distance between everyone that will be present.
Williams said safety protocols will also be stringent, including Family Island and traveling contestants having to take a PCR test and be put in place. Temperature checks and hand sanitizing have been made priority. Additional microphones will be in place as well as a stage manager to ensure if contestants touch the microphones, that they will be cleaned before another speller steps up to it.
The winner will advance to represent The Bahamas at the Scripps preliminaries, which will be held virtually.
From the virtual prelims, the 10 to 12 accomplished spellers will compete in the final on July 8, at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando. The final will be broadcast live in primetime on ESPN2.
Williams is hoping Bahamian representation will be in the final.
The finalists who will travel to the Orlando area will have earned the right to compete in the finals by advancing through three levels of competition: the preliminary, quarterfinal and semifinal segments. In past years, those three rounds were held over one week – Bee Week. This year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the preliminaries, quarterfinals and semifinals will be held virtually in the weeks leading up to the July 8 final.
The decision to limit the in-person portion of the competition to no more than 12 spellers was made in consideration of the health and safety of participants, their families and everyone involved in the event’s production as the world continues to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
The in-person portion of the competition at ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex at Disney will follow protocols based on guidance from health authorities, including the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), for social distancing and masking.
In the past, one of the major prizes for the winner of the national bee was the trip to Washington, DC, for Bee Week, but due to the virtual nature of the prelims, the week has been scuttled, which means the prize package has also changed.
There will be cash prizes as well as a laptop donated by Custom Computers as in the past, but the national winner will definitely have to earn their trip this year.
“Our winner’s trip definitely has to be earned and that person has to go through two preliminary rounds, competing against students across the globe. The good thing about this year is that there are children who have been in the competition before who have a repertoire of words and understand what is needed of them,” she said.
Williams said staging this year’s national spelling contest was not easy as the committee had roadblocks they had to overcome.
“We can’t have a bee if we don’t have the students and coaches on board, and there were some schools that were only having virtual classes, and a number of coaches said it was difficult to meet with spellers,” she said. They were finally able to pull it together for yield of 21 vying for the title, a number that she said is manageable.
“We don’t want it to be less than what has happened in the past. Because the era we are in is so much different with all the health protocols in place, we have to work harder to ensure everything runs smoothly, everyone feels safe and everyone is kept safe.”
Scripps National Bee returns this year after being canceled due to the pandemic.
“Since its beginnings nearly 100 years ago, the Scripps National Spelling Bee and its spellers have inspired audiences across the globe with a compelling combination of academic excellence and engaging entertainment,” said Adam Symson, president and chief executive officer of The E.W. Scripps Company. “Now, as the world continues to adapt to an ongoing pandemic, Scripps is committed to reimagining the beloved competition in a way that safely allows our exceptional spellers to continue this iconic tradition on the national stage.”
If Seligman, a seventh-grade student at Lyford Cay International School (LCIS), has anything to say about it – he will be the Bahamian representative later this year, considering COVID-19 literally forced the world to grind to a halt last year with events being canceled left and right, including Scripps.
“I know that canceling the bee last year was the right thing for Scripps to do, but I still feel disappointed,” said Seligman. “[But] I’m excited that Scripps has found a way to hold the Bee safely this year,” Seligman told The Nassau Guardian in an earlier interview.
Seligman, who has won the Bahamas National Spelling Bee for the past two years, said he would be honored to have another opportunity to represent the country.
The pre-teen has not been resting on his laurels and said he has been studying the 4,000 words of champions list provided by Scripps, along with lists of his own. He studies roots, language patterns and definitions as he enjoys the process and is motivated, working for at least three hours a day and longer on non-school days.
He has even networked with former national bee winners, including the 2019 Octochamps with whom he shares strategies, explores new words and participates in online competitions.
The Scripps National Spelling Bee is the United States’ largest and longest-running educational program. The purpose of the Scripps National Spelling Bee is to help students improve their spelling, increase their vocabularies, learn concepts and develop correct English usage that will help them all their lives.
With his 2019 win, Seligman was the first LCIS student to win the national title, which he followed up with a second win in 2020.
Seligman remains eligible to participate in Scripps. Students who have advanced beyond the eighth grade are not eligible to participate in the spelling bee program.
Last year, Seligman told The Nassau Guardian that he was understanding of the global public health issues the world grappled with to contain the spread of COVID-19, but that he was still disappointed the 93rd Scripps National Spelling Bee had to be canceled.
Last year marked the only time since World War II (1943-1945) that the Bee had canceled the national finals since the program’s inception in 1925.
The first cases of coronavirus were initially detected in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The United States confirmed its first case on January 21. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared it a pandemic on January 30.
The Bahamas identified its first case on March 15, 2020.
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