PIKE
THE GLEANER'S Children's Own Spelling Bee champion Rosanna Pike exited at the fourth round of the 79th Scripps National Spelling Bee Competition in Washington D.C. yesterday.
In Round One, all spellers got a written spelling test which she successfully navigated; only missing two words. She later spelled the words a-c-e-t-a-b-u-l-u-m (the concave surface of the pelvis) and l-a-r-g-i-t-i-o-n-a-l which refers to the bestowing of a large gratuity. In Round Four, she misspelt m-y-s-o-p-h-i-l-i-a which means "a pathological interest in dirt and filth, sometimes with sexual manifestations".
An initial group of 275 spellers from as far away as New Zealand started the competition.
Rosanna was especially disappointed because she had the correct spelling in her head but went with 'e-i' instead of 'y'. But she remained positive.
"I'm glad I got the exposure and I think it was a one-time experience and I learned a lot from it," she said. She cried when her run ended, but was quickly consoled by her mother, Sherril Bennett.
OTHER COMPETITIONS
"I hugged her and told her it wasn't the last. She'll have other competitions in her life and she has to be prepared for those," she said. Her coach, Reverend Glen Archer, did not feel the publicity Rosanna received before the final was a distraction.
"The experience is never wasted. We don't think about numbers alone. You learn a lot about life. It isn't that you fall but rise again," he philosophised. Both mother and coach thanked The Gleaner Company for its sponsorship and for giving Rosanna tremendous exposure.
The Gleaner Company's Corporate Affairs and Marketing Manager Karin Cooper reiterated that this is all part of what the newspaper does as part of its education outreach.
The group will return to the island on Saturday.
This is the ninth time that Jamaica has entered the competition. Jody-Ann Maxwell remains the only non-American speller to win the title, which she did in 1998. Our best finish since then was third by Trudy McLeary in 2003.
