By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C., June 1, 2022 – Roy Seligman, Bahamas National Spelling Bee (BNSB) champion, was among the 88 contestants who advanced to the quarter finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee currently taking place at the Gaylord Resort and Convention Center in Oxon Hill Maryland, near Washington, D.C.
During the preliminary three rounds held on Tuesday, the 234 spellers participating in the competition were given a word to spell from a provided list of 4,000, then they had to answer a multiple-choice vocabulary question about a word on the same list and had to spell a word that could be found anywhere in Webster’s Unabridged dictionary.
According to Cylestina Cooper-Williams, Bahamas National Spelling Bee (BNSB) chairperson, who is a member of Team Bahamas attending the Scripps Bee, Roy correctly spelled “goanna” in Round 1 and successfully answered the multiple-choice vocabulary question about a word “ulterior.” In Round 3, he correctly spelled the word “curvet.”
“Roy was poised and focused. He strategically asked for all of the information of the words before he attempted to spell. When he correctly spelt the last word, the Bahamian delegation uttered jubilant shouts, while simultaneously waving their Bahamian flags,” Mrs. Cooper-Williams said.
The Bahamas has a second contestant in the competition, Maria Sanchez, second-place finisher in this year’s BNSB. As Speller No. 219, she correctly spelled the word “totipotency” in the first round, but unfortunately she was eliminated in the second round when she gave the wrong meaning for the word “bulwark.”
All 50 U.S. states are represented in the competition, as well as the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Department of Defense Schools in Europe. Four countries outside the U.S. are also included: The Bahamas, Canada, Germany and Ghana.
The quarterfinals were held this morning (Wednesday) and the semifinals will be held later evening, followed by the finals tomorrow, Thursday, June 2, beginning at 8 p.m.
Team Bahamas arrived in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, May 29. In addition to the two spellers, the delegation includes Katina Seymour, Roy’s Coach; Michelle Sanchez, Maria’s Coach and Mother; Roy’s parents and sister, Arthur & Nuala Seligman and Lena; Cylestina Cooper-Williams, National Spelling Bee Coordinator and BNSB Chairperson; and Terrice Curry, Chief Judge for the BNSB Competition and Acting Assistant Director of Education.
