C.C. Sweeting wins North Western District Spelling Bee

By MONIQUE FORBES

Guardian Features Reporter

For the third straight year, C.C. Sweeting Junior High School won the North Western, New Providence district spelling bee competition.

Yesterday after a fierce 13 rounds, 12-year-old Rico Johnson, a seventh grader from the school, walked away with the winning trophy.

Spelling out the word c-o-n-v-o-y, Johnson beat out some 24 students from eight schools at the 7th Annual North Western District Spelling Bee competition held at the BCPOU Hall, Farrington Rd.

This is Johnson's first win, but the fifth for the CC Sweeting junior school, which now gets to keep the floating trophy for holding the record three consecutive wins in the NorthWestern District level.

"We started preparation in November, and in addition to the help he received from three coaches, he did a lot of his studying at home," said Jacqueline Perpall, one of the excited coaches.

"Rico was out sick most of the week because he had a bad case of the flu, but he still wanted to go into the competition, he felt he could handle it and today was his day!"

According to Mrs Perpall, dedication and teamwork were ingredients for the win and she along with the other two coaches Miriam Wells, and Elizabeth Jarret look forward to winning the national competition this year.

"We think we deserve that opportunity and we are coming for a win this year," she said.

Second place went to D'Andra Rolle of H O Nash, and there was a four way tie for the third spot which went to Hattie Dean from Albury Sayle Primary School, Terrel Johnson, Gambier Primary; Tatiana Hepburn, Stephen Dillet Primary; and Sasha Fountain C.C. Sweeting Junior

Also in attendance at the event, was Ms. Harriet Pratt, NorthWestern District Superintendent.

According to Ms Pratt she was proud of Johnson and the entire student's whom she called "winners."

"We realise that when a winning combination of concerned parents, competent coaches and keen contestants team up to sharpen spelling skills and increase vocabularies, everyone benefits and spelling continues to improve long after the competition has ended," she told attendees.

"As we showcase these talented spellers and promote word power, we believe that cultural and intellectual literacy will be enhanced, and that some of our nation's best readers and writers will emerge from this fine group of contestants who will use the language more creatively and effectively."

Caption: SPELLING BEE — Rico Johnson Thursday won the Ministry of Education's Northwestern District Spelling Bee, to give C.C. Sweeting Junior High School the win for the third straight year. Photo by Letisha Henderson

Posted: Saturday January 31,2004