Kyria wins St Mary title as Bee buzz returns

PORT MARIA, St Mary:

After a two-year hiatus because of the coronavirus pandemic, the sponsors, coaches and spellers were buzzing with excitement on Monday as the 62nd staging of The Gleaner’s Children’s Own Spelling Bee Competition got under way.

Seventeen students lined up before spellmistress Marline Stephenson Dalley at the Emmanuel Baptist Church in St Mary to get things going with the first word: A-B-I-L-I-T-Y.

After seven rounds of spelling, the top five Bees were announced and Nathaniel Campbell of Bromley Primary was named top boy.

Down to the wire, Kyria Hind of Annotto Bay High and Alexandrie Lawrence of Donnington Primary went head to head for several rounds before Alexandrie misspelt the word G-A-G-G-L-E. The word was passed to Kyria, who correctly spelt it before also successfully reeling off the letters G-A-Z-E-B-O for her winning word.

Kyria’s victory was met with thunderous applause as she hugged her spellmate.

“Winning the championship is awesome and excellent. The person who did it (spellmistress) was very good at pronouncing the words, and I feel confident about winning the national championship. I can’t wait for others to visualise this moment of winning,” she said, after winning the St Mary title.

Kyria said that it did not take long to prepare for the spelldown, with most of the work done over the summer holidays, after her mom saw the competition advertised in The Gleaner and inquired whether she would like to participate.

When her mom bought the Spelling Bee book, she took to studying.

Help came by way of Kerriann Green, Kyria’s grade-one teacher when she attended Enfield Primary.

“Ms Green agreed to coach me when my mom thought I needed more help,” the champion speller said.

Green is not new to coaching or producing winners in the parish.

“I taught Kyria in grade one and have coached her to enter a few spelling competitions over the years,” she revealed. “I know her to be a determined individual, who always puts out her best.

“I am confident she will perform well at nationals. I know that, through Christ, all things are possible. I declared her the winner this morning,” said Green.

The Annotto Bay High student is a bright star in her first-form class and loves reading and researching new things.

Kyria also enjoys watching educational YouTube videos.

kerry-ann.hepburn@gleanerjm.com

ST MARY TOP 5

1. Kyria Hind, Annotto Bay High

2. Alexandrie Lawrence, Donnington Primary

3. Kaysia Baxter, Bromley Primary

4. Nathaniel Campbell, Bromley Primary

5. Zea Haughton, Water Valley Primary

Top boy: Nathaniel Campbell, Bromley Primary

Top girl: Kyria Hind, Annotto Bay High

Winning word: G-A-Z-E-B-O