Competitors in Spelling Bees Hone their Skills


Spelling bee competitions may be different for everyone. Like Meade Pandya, he finds it more amusing and enjoyable rather than seeing it as a contest or something to be anxious about.

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Pandya is in his seventh grade at Heights Middle School in Farmington and takes spelling bees as an easy challenge that he does not need to prepare rigorously for. The twelve-year-old Pandya finished third in the most recent spelling bee competition at his school. In a confident statement, he admitted that he had only spent around two hours studying for the event. Since one of his hobbies and past-time activity is fishing, he finds it a little embarrassing to have misspelled the word “tilapia” in one of the contests he joined, Pandya reported.

He will then be joining another competition which will be participated by students from the first until the eighth grades. The Washington D.C. region will host the 98th Scripps National Spelling Bee from May 28 to June 2. The winners advance to district bees and finally to the state bees as the competition begins at the school level. Winners at the state level are given entry into the national competition.

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The participating schools in 2022-2023 come from 25 counties out of the 33 counties of the state which includes newly-registered 224 New Mexico schools. And most of these participants have qualified from school-level competitions. The district bees must be done by Jan. 31 to qualify for next year’s finals. If there will be no health issues, the state bee of New Mexico will be held on April 1 in Albuquerque. In such a scenario, a state bee will be conducted online on March 30. The sponsors of the state spelling bee include Musenda Credit union and the Albuquerque Journal.

According to Sara Allen, the spelling bee coordinator for the Reserve (New Mexico) Independent Schools that in the digital and technologically-inclined era where spell checks, autocorrect, and shorthand texts such as LOL, BRB, etc. have come to emerge, spelling has only become a matter of forgotten skill or penmanship. She has observed that spelling has fallen behind its true importance due to technology.

Allen emphasized that schools should enhance spelling knowledge and skills because it is important for students to learn. Alongside spelling, vocabulary and comprehension of spelling patterns should also be one of the highlights in the scope of basic education. And spelling bees greatly help students to improve their spelling skills in multiple functionalities.

She also believes that students generally receive more benefits through establishing more confidence after taking risks in challenging tasks.

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