Janelle Christie
A seven year-old girl from Tomlinson’s Christian Academy, Ocho Rios, stunned her much older rivals to win the St Ann Parish title in the annual Spelling Bee competition.
Tomlinson Christian Academy won the first place in the Spelling Bee competition for St.Ann.
Seven-year-old Zara Wallace from Great Pond, St Ann was able to top the 54 competitors with the winning word “Gerontology”, in the spell down on Wednesday, September 28, in St Ann.
The parents of the grade three student at Tomlinson’s are Sherrie-Ann Ellis Wallace and Richard Wallace.
Vice Principal Elsa Clarke explained to the North Coast Times that Zara showed potential from a very young age. Her beginnings were set when she joined the Spelling Bee club on her own initiative and has been doing well since. In the wake of becoming a member of the club she then entered a Spelling Bee competition that the Kiwanis club had put on at the school earlier this year and was placed fifth.
After realizing her potential they decided to use her as their representative, since, the student, Jadaqae Johnson who had represented and won the competition last year migrated.
When asked about the strategy used to train Zara, her trainer Meleiphia Lawrence said “hard work, long hours and we put God first in whatever we do…excellence under God’s guidance (which is also the school’s motto).”
“I feel good,” Zara said when the North Coast Times enquired about her victory.
