Hattieville youth wins Bz. District spelling bee
Now in its eighth year, the annual Coca-Cola Spelling Bee has become a widely anticipated event for thousands of Belizean school children. As the Belize District competition heated up, Ann-Marie Williams stopped by Parish Hall.
Ann-Marie Williams, Reporting
The Corozal and Orange Walk spelloffs of the National Coca-Cola Spelling Bee have been completed, and today it was the Belize City District finals at the Parish Hall. Eighteen students from the Belize District started out with two rounds and a reserve round with only eleven of the eighteen remaining. There were some challenging moments along the way, and in the end, an elated Tarique Domingo of Hattieville Government School emerged the victor.
Tarique Domingo, 1st Place, Belize District
“I can’t even explain it.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“How hard you study?”
Tarique Domingo
“Very hard. I even study from all different types of dictionaries.”
He was followed closely by Anita Zetina of Our Lady of Lourdes R.C. School in Maskall Village.
Ann-Marie Williams
“I noticed two words in particular gave you a little bit of trouble, rhetoric and precipice. Were you familiar with those words?”
Anita Zetina, 2nd Place, Belize District
“Only with one of them, rhetoric.”
Ann-Marie Williams
“Why did it give you so much trouble to spell?”
Anita Zetina
“Because I forgot to put in the h.”
Anita had some difficult hurdles to overcome in the reserve round when she couldn’t spell “pidgin”. Not the bird, but a form of a language with reduced vocabulary and grammar.
Anita Zetina
“Pidgin, P-I-G-I-N-E.”
Quiz Mistress
“Try again.”
Anita Zetina
“Pidgin. P-I-D-G-I-N-N-E?”
Quiz Mistress
“Try again.”
Anita Zetina
Pidgin. P-E…” (Time runs out)
Tarique Domingo’s travails came when he couldn’t spell “steppe” even after quiz mistress Lenny Jo Usher used the word in a sentence and gave the meaning.
Quiz Mistress
“The meaning of steppe is a large area of land with grass but no trees. Steppe in a sentence: The higher elevations of the Mountain Pine Ridge appeared to be steppe like and devoid of trees. Steppe.”
Tarique Domingo
Steppe. S-C-I-E-T-P.”
Quiz Mistress
“Steppe.”
Tarique Domingo
“Steppe. S-C-I-E-P-T.”
Quiz Mistress
“No.”
The Cayo District spelloff of the National Coca-Cola Spelling Bee takes place tomorrow.
Ann-Marie Williams for News 5.
Previously held district finals in Orange Walk and Corozal were won by Oscar Lemus of Gallon Jug Community School and Laura Ortiz of Libertad Methodist respectively. Runners up were Lenny Ayuso of San Estevan and Mayra Martinez of Buena Vista R.C. The national finals will be held on May twenty-third at Belize City Centre.
