Makayla Todman, winner of St. Croix's 44th Annual District Spelling Bee, is congratulated by Assistant Commissioner Charmaine Hobson, St. Croix Superintendent Colleen Mae Williams, and Deputy Superintendents Vaughn Hewitt and Faith Dane George-Boone.
John H. Woodson Junior High School eighth grade student, 13-year-old Makayla Todman, won the St. Croix District 44th Annual Spelling Bee Championship on Friday, February 24 after 17 intense rounds of competition with 17 other in-school bee winners in the district. Todman is also the reigning 2016 Territorial Spelling Bee champion.
Todman misspelled palfrey at the beginning of the 16th round, but her closest competitor, Daniel Lago, the first runner-up in the spelling competition, also misspelled surmountable. Todman then went on to spell hydrate correctly at the top of the 17th round, while Lago, a 9-year-old fourth grader at St. Patrick’s School, ended his run on the word discalced. Todman quickly spelled prodition correctly, securing the district championship. She was coached by Chantelle Quionnes, and Lago’s coach was Sharonsne Elock.
Todman and Lago will be joined by four other finalists from St. Croix to compete against the top spellers in the St. Thomas-St. John District at the Territorial Spelling Bee on Wednesday, March 22, 2017 in the John H. Woodson Jr. High School Auditorium. The four other finalists in the competition in order of placement are Carmindy Pickering, Pearl B. Larsen Elementary; Z’Qi Chapman, Church of God Holiness Academy; Ivante Mark, Eulalie R. Rivera Elementary and Michael Atwell, Good Hope Country Day School.
The other spellers in the 44th Annual St. Croix District Spelling Bee and their schools are as follows:
School Spelling Bee Champ School
Tahriq Joseph Alexander Henderson Elementary
Joscelin Torres Alfredo Andrews Elementary
Nicolas Phillip Claude O. Markoe Elementary
Jahnya Allahar Lew Muckle Elementary
Le’Vounte Hughes Juanita Gardine Elementary
Reneecia Bertrand Ricardo Richards Elementary
Aundre Wattley Arthur A. Richards Jr. High
Taj Bates Elena L. Christian Jr. High
Gene Wooton Free Will Baptist
Charles Baptist St. Croix Seventh Day Adventist
Sophia Lockwood AZ Academy
Sumaya Velasquez St. Croix Christian Academy
Language Arts Coordinator Carla Bastian, Ed.D., coordinated the District Bee. Other sponsors include the Virgin Islands Daily News, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Scholastic, Inc., Banco Popular, Cost U Less and Plaza Extra East.
St. Croix District top spellers will compete in the Territorial Competition on March 22 on St. Croix. From left, Ivante Mark of Eulalie R. Rivera Elementary; Z’Qi Chapman, Church of God Holiness Academy, Spelling Bee Champ Makayla Todman, Woodson Jr. High; Daniel Lago, St. Patrick’s School; Carmindy Pickering and Michael Atwell of Good Hope Country Day.
