Junior Dowie/ Staff Photographer
Trudy-Anne McLeary mulls over a word, as Prince Flanigan, both from Ardenne High, waits his turn as they participated in the spelldown to decide the St. Andrew Parish champion in the National Spelling Bee, yesterday.Daviot Kelly, Staff Reporter
TRUDY-ANNE McLeary of Ardenne High School out-duelled 55 other spellers, as she claimed the title of St. Andrew Parish Champion at the Gleaner offices, North Street, Kingston, yesterday.
Though she admitted to becoming tense after a confident start, she remained focused. "I've been in a parish final before, so it's not the first," she said afterward. Her parents were too nervous to remain.
Her schoolmate, Prince Flanigan, finished as runner-up and copped the Champion Boy prize. The top five spots were completed by Jermaine Thomas of Ardenne Prep, who finished third; Danielle Thomas of Kingsway Prep, who took fourth place and Dejoun Green from Covenant Christian Academy, who finished fifth - giving Reverend Glen Archer a top-five sweep.
For the first time in the competition's 44 year history, children who were home-schooled took part. But nine-year-old Teressa Stokes was so nervous she broke down in tears at the first word and had to have her teacher hold her hand as she spelt. Quiz mistresses Ivin Logan and Shernett Robinson had to repeatedly ask the large contingent of parents and teachers to be silent as the tension built. Parents could be seen with their camcorders and cameras taking in every minute for posterity.
After getting off to a 10 am start, by mid-day only the top five spellers were left and at 1:30 p.m. it was down to the last two. There was a little drama when Trudy-Anne seemed to have spelt 'inexpungeable' incorrectly. However, it was realised that 'expungible' was also accepted, referring to the official Spelling Bee dictionary, The Shorter Oxford. On more than one occasion, the two spellers questioned Ms. Robinson on the pronunciation of words. Trudy-Anne took the prize when, after spelling 'quandary' which Prince missed, she correctly spelt 'quinquagenarian' which means "a person who is between 50 and 59 years old.
Trudy-Anne, who wants to be a criminal lawyer, will now represent the parish in the National Finals in February, 2003.
The competition continues on Monday morning with the St. Thomas Parish Finals at the Morant Bay Parish Church Hall starting at 9. Spellers in Portland will vie for parish honours at the Methodist Church Hall between 3 and 5 in the afternoon.
