By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. — In my OSWALD BROWN WRITES column on August 10, 2018, I offered some advice to Bahamas Minister of Education Jeff Lloyd and “his team of committed educators who are responsible for molding the minds of future generations of Bahamians” as they were “preparing for the opening of the new school year in September.”
While going through my daily routine of checking the various newspapers in CARICOM-member countries for selected articles to publish in THE BROWN AGENCY’S online news publication BAHAMAS CHRONICLE, I saw a front-page advertisement in the Jamaica Gleaner that strongly suggested that I should repeat the advice I gave to Education Minister Lloyd.
“Now is the time for members of the Bahamas National Spelling Bee (BNSB) Committee employed by the Ministry to start lobbying in earnest for the introduction of Spelling Bee Clubs in the country’s junior and senior high schools,” I suggested.
The following extended excerpt from that column strongly supports my reasons for offering that advice:
“Ever since the BNSB started sending a spelling champion to compete in the highly prestigious annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. in 1998, The Bahamas’ champion has failed to advance beyond the early rounds of the competition each year, a symptom that clearly suggests there is a need to change the manner in which our spellers are prepared for this highly competitive competition.
“By contrast, except for the past several years, Jamaica’s champion was perennially among the finalists, and its 1998 champion, Jody-Anne Maxwell, made history when she became the first non-American to win the competition at the age of 12. This also was the year that The Bahamas participated in the Scripps Bee for the first time, but although Dominique Higgins of Jordan Prince William High School was very competitive in the early rounds, he was eliminated in the fourth round.
“As the person responsible for introducing the Scripps National Spelling Bee to The Bahamas when I was Editor of the Nassau Guardian in 1998, with strong support from the then Minister of State for Education Dion Foulkes, I was very much involved in the preparations for the annual Bahamas National Spelling Bee during the early years.
“Under the supervision of Dr. Olga Clarke of the Ministry of Education, dedicated members of the Bahamas National Spelling Bee Committee each year organized competitions at all levels of our school system, starting with in-school competitions throughout The Bahamas and subsequently regional competitions leading up to the national finals to select an overall champion to represent The Bahamas at the Scripps Bee…”
It can clearly be deduced from the above excerpt from my column that Jamaica takes its participation in the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee far more seriously than we do in The Bahamas. Based on the front-page advertisement in The Gleaner promoting the “Parish Finals” for The Gleaner’s 2018 Spelling Bee, Jamaica will obviously know who will represent that country several months before our regional competitions are held to determine the top spellers to compete in The Bahamas National Spelling Bee finals in March of 2019.
What this means is that Jamaica will have that much more of a head start in preparing their speller for the highly competitive 2019 Scripps Spelling Bee scheduled to be held in Washington, D.C., at the end of May. Obviously, the fact that Jamaica invests more time and effort in preparing their spellers is one of the reasons why its spelling champions are perennially among the best participants in the Scripps competition. It is also noteworthy that the sponsoring newspaper, The Gleaner, likewise takes its responsibility as sponsor extremely seriously, to the extent of promoting events with front-page advertisements. By contrast, the Nassau Guardian, which has been the principal sponsor of the BNSB from Scripps Bee was introduced to The Bahamas when I was Editor of The Guardian in 1998, has in recent years not given it the same level of editorial support the BNSB received in the early years.
It surely is about time that The Bahamas follows Jamaica’s example in preparing spellers to compete in the Scripps Bee. As I noted in my August 10 column, in the early years of the BNSB, Grand Bahama produced a disproportionate number of our spelling champions due in no small measure to the leadership provided by Daphne Barr, who is still an education officer with the Ministry of Education, but in recent years apparently has not been as actively involved in organizing the Grand Bahama championships as in past years.
In preparation for the upcoming Spelling Bee Season, I suggested that the National Spelling Bee Committee should take steps to more actively involve Ms. Barr, based on her proven track record, in the organization of competitions in Grand Bahama.
Additionally, as I also suggested in that “having lived in Grand Bahama for 12 years prior to moving to Washington, D.C. in 2013 as the Press, Cultural Affairs and Information Manager at The Bahamas Embassy, when I was Editor of the Freeport News I was extremely impressed by the teaching ability of Sheryl Wood, who for a number of years was Principal of the Beacon School for students with special needs.”
Ms. Wood, who has been an educator for more than 35 years and is currently Deputy Director of Anglican Education with the Anglican Central Education Authority, has a wealth of experience in preparing special children as well as children in mainstream education for spelling bees.
“I believe The Bahamas can produce a Scripps Spelling Bee champion if we are less proprietorial and work as a team to prepare our national winner,” Ms. Woods said, when I contacted her prior to writing my August 10 column. “In essence, we need an ‘It will take a village’ approach to assist our national winner to become an international winner.”
Here’s another excerpt from that column: “I don’t know how much Education Minister Jeff Lloyd gets involved in determining matters of this nature, but based on his visionary leadership several years ago of the YEAST program, which redirected the lives of a number of youth-at-risk to a pathway leading towards being law-abiding productive citizens, I am convinced that Minister Lloyd would surely see the benefits of having a person like Ms. Wood on the Bahamas National Spelling Bee Committee. Hopefully, he will also embrace my idea of establishing Spelling Bee Clubs at the appropriate levels in our schools, whether as a part of the curricula or as an after-school activity. The bottom line is that we have got to find a way for our champion to get beyond the early rounds of the Scripps Bee and position himself or herself to reach the finals and possibly become the overall winner.”
