Spelling Bee of Canada

BY MICHAEL THOMAS

First word; convalesce!

C-O-N-V-A-L-E-S-C-E

The Spelling Bee Championship of Canada were held on Sunday, May 5^th, 2019, in Richmond Hill, Ontario. This year, the three National Champions crowned were: Parnavdeep S. Kundi of Vancouver for Primary Division, Aiden Kwon of North York for Junior Division, and, Rishi Damarla of Windsor for the Intermediate Division.

Toronto Caribbean Newspaper spoke with winner Aiden Kwon, his dad and Director of Marketing and Media person for the Spelling Bee of Canada (SBOC) Saira Khan. Khan told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper that The Spelling Bee of Canada is a non-profit organization that is celebrating its 32nd national championship this year. “Some of the main goals of (SBOC) are to bring communities together, build literacy, boost education, bring families together, to build confidence in the art of spelling and to enrich our children in the love of learning.”

To date, the organization has seen over 50,000 children nationwide participate in the competition. “This year alone over 3,000 children registered who had to go through all the different hoops before they arrived at the finals; it has been really exciting. “Khan told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper, “It’s a pleasure to watch them develop from the beginning where they are trying to learn the words, right through the coaching sessions, and to the end. We really promote the philosophy that everyone is a winner, so whether you win or lose you are a champion.”

Kwon who has been in the competition for the last three years knows a thing or two about winning and losing.  He told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper, “It’s been a long time coming, and it’s my first time winning after a lot of preparation.” When asked how does he prepare for this competition, he said, “I look for hard words on the internet and in the dictionary. I study them vigorously, and I look at lots of letters; that’s how I study and won.” Kwon who beat 34 other competitors to emerge as the winner had this piece of advice for up and coming wannabe Spelling Bee competitors; “Just listen to your heart, persevere and never give up because you can always be a champion if you try hard enough.” He said he would not compete next year in the Spelling Bee event but would love to try other things instead like entering a writing contest. When asked what are the words that got him the title the two winning words he said are (abrogate and ammunition).

Khan describes the 12-year old winner as a very confident, happy go lucky and humble student who is really looking forward to studying and getting ready for the years ahead. She gave Toronto Caribbean Newspaper some insights on the training it takes to compete; “The children can practice spelling a wide range of familiar words through an app on their mobile phone no matter where they are. They are also given a new set of unfamiliar words to work on, this way, they can anticipate the hard words that they might get later on in the competition.”

Kwon, who took home $1,000 as part of his prize, said he would like the world to know that he is a person who never gives up, and will persevere in the worst possible position. Jay Kwon  (Aiden’s father) told Toronto Caribbean Newspaper “I am very proud of my son; for the last two years I have watched him struggle to win this competition, he spends a lot of time spelling words and now he is the winner, I am so proud.”

When asked where she sees this competition going in the next five years, Khan answered, “The plan is to have a Canadian based global Spelling Bee competition and invite school-aged children from all countries to join us.”

The Toronto Caribbean Newspaper would like to congratulate all of the winners and thank Spelling Bee Championships of Canada for providing such a brilliant platform for our community.