ST. CROIX — Good Hope Country Day School\u2019s Michael Atwell, 2019 St. Croix District Intermediate Spelling Bee champ proved he\u2019s the best speller in the territory winning the 46th Annual Virgin Islands Territorial Intermediate Spelling Bee, the Department of Education has announced. Atwell spelled \u201clexigraphy\u201d correctly after 13 rounds of competition on Tuesday, March 19, 2019, in the John H. Woodson Jr. High School\u2019s auditorium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
At the 2019 St. Croix District Intermediate Spelling Bee, Michael stated, \u201cI feel excited, but I just want to win the next one. I\u2019m going to start practicing for that one.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now that he has won the territorial title Michael said \u201cI\u2019m very, very, very excited about going to the National Competition. I\u2019m going for 1st place because that\u2019s what I like to do-I like to win! I really don\u2019t like losing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Michael will represent the Virgin Islands and travel to Washington, D.C to participate in the 92nd Scripps National Spelling Bee, May 28\u201330.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cFor the Scripps National Bee, what I\u2019m going to try to keep calm and stay confident. I\u2019ll take my time on every single word to get everything right,\u201d said the champion speller.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Department of Education Commissioner Designee Raquel Berry-Benjamin shared words of encouragement to the spellers who were quite nervous before the competition started.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cSpellers, it\u2019s going to be okay. Everyone in here is rooting for you. You\u2019re going to do just fine,\u201d the commissioner assured them.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mrs. Berry-Benjamin then welcomed everyone to the Bee.\u00a0\u00a0\u201cParents, faculty, teachers, staff, volunteers, thank you for your time. This is what the Department of Education is about. We educate…we ensure our students have opportunities to learn and grow and then we give them an opportunity to perform, to showcase their talent and skills.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Chief Judge Maureen Moorhead formally read the rules and the competition began. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The top spellers put their best foot forward as they spelled homophones, homonyms, and proved their strengths in vocabulary and word origins. The competition lasted approximately two hours with students spelling words such as, \u201cstethoscope,\u201d \u201cgeode,\u201d \u201cknavery,\u201d \u201cBanzai,\u201d and \u201cfuselage.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
St. Thomas \u2013 St. John 2018 District Intermediate Spelling champ Priya Giyanani misspelled the word \u201ccassettes\u201d in round 12 which brought Atwell, and Jaden Gonzalez of The Church of God (Holiness) Academy left to battle in round 13. Gonzalez then misspelled \u201cconsolidate\u201d leading Michael to his victory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One highlight of the competition is that Gonzalez initially lost in round 6, spelling the word \u201cmyriad\u201d incorrectly. When repeating the word to the announcer, Gonzalez pronounced \u201cmeriad<\/em>\u201d instead. He was not corrected and continued on to spell \u201cmeriad<\/em>.\u201d After reviewing the recording, Chief Judge Maureen Moorehead agreed it was a mistake on the judges\u2019 behalf and reinstated Gonzalez into the competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This year, the United Way of the Virgin Islands, McDonald\u2019s USVI, and Houghton Mifflin-Harcourt were local sponsors the annual literacy event along with long-time official Scripps sponsor, the Virgin Islands Daily News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n All twelve participants received certificates of participation, a tablet (their District Bee prize), compliments of United Way USVI and a backpack filled with goodies, compliments of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. The top three spellers also received a crystal Spelling Bee trophy each. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael Atwell additionally received a laptop, compliments of United Way USVI, an Amazon Kindle E-reader, Amazon gift card and backpack filled with goodies, compliments of McDonald\u2019s USVI, the Samuel Louis Sugarman Award for the 2019 United States Mint Proof Set, a one-year subscription to the Scripps National Spelling Bee\u2019s official dictionary\u2014the Merriam-Webster Unabridged Online Dictionary, another one-year subscription to Britannica Online Premium and a trip for two to Washington, D.C. to represent the Virgin Islands in the 91st Scripps National Spelling Bee, all compliments of the Virgin Islands Daily News.<\/p>\n\n\n\n St. Croix District Acting Insular Superintendent Carlos McGregor closed out the 46th Annual Bee with supporting words to all spellers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCongratulations to everyone involved in this Spelling Bee. I grew an attachment with each one of these students\u2026. I really wish that all 12 could have won, and go on to Maryland.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He took some time to acknowledge Michael directly as well. \u201cMichael, you have the potential to go off to the National Spelling Bee and come back this year with the big prize- the number one speller in the country.\u201d He continued, \u201cIf you can spell the word \u201clexigraphy\u201d with so much confidence I\u2019m sure that you can spell every other word.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Michael shared his experience when he heard that \u201clexigraphy\u201d was the winning word.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNot that I thought it was easy, but it was an easy word to sound out. There were no silent letters, so I was able to spell it correctly. And because I knew the origin of the word, I knew how certain letters would be placed in the word.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n A proud mother and coach, Deondra Atwell shared how they prepared for the competition. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMichael loves to read, so he\u2019s always reading. What we did is we made it [studying] fun like when he\u2019s playing video games, we\u2019ll do a little bit of studying or when he\u2019s relaxing,\u201d she said. \u201cI didn\u2019t want to make it laborious, you know? Just make it fun. Then sometimes maybe once every week we just concentrate but make it light and make it fun. That\u2019s how he was able to prevail.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cMichael wants to bring it home for the territory, and I believe in him,\u201d said Deondra.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Present at the Bee were First Lady Yolanda Bryan; Board of Education members Winona Hendricks and Terrence Joseph; former St. Croix District Superintendent Gloria Canegata-Walkerman; Senate President Kenneth Gittens, Senator Novelle Francis, a representative from Senator Javan James\u2019 office; Gerry Yandel of the Virgin Islands Daily News and Andrea Burgess-Figueroa of United Way USVI. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Feature Image: Acting Insular Superintendent Carlos McGregor, Dept. of Education Commissioner Designee Raquel Berry-Benjamin, 1st place Winner Michael Atwell, First Lady Yolanda Bryan and Andrea Burgess-Figueroa of United Way of the US Virgin Islands <\/em>(Credit: D.O.E.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" ST. CROIX — Good Hope Country Day School\u2019s Michael Atwell, 2019 St. Croix District Intermediate Spelling Bee champ proved he\u2019s the best speller in the territory winning the 46th Annual Virgin Islands Territorial Intermediate Spelling Bee, the Department of Education has announced. Atwell spelled \u201clexigraphy\u201d correctly after 13 rounds of competition on Tuesday, March 19, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":72569,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1078,191,147],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n