OLOL Students Compete To Represent at Regional Spelling Bee
OLOL Primary Division Participants (left to right) Cole Townes, Kaitlynn Lessard, Primary Division Winner Nicole Klause (Gr.3), Julia Gervais and Dakota Baril. (Absent from photo: Tara Wilcott).
Luoma-Uhlik to Represent Manitouwadge In Thunder Bay
Scroll to bottom of page for a video interview with Luoma-Uhlik
Our Lady of Lourdes School Grade 6 student Lucas Luoma-Uhlik will represent Manitouwadge at the Canspell Regionals in Thunder Bay this March.
MANITOUWADGE, ON – January 13th, Our Lady of Lourdes School held its qualifying competition for the Canspell Regional Spelling Bee to be held in Thunder Bay, March 5th. Students from Grades 1-8 at OLOL competed in two divisions, in a literacy initiative, originally launched by Postmedia Network in 2005 to engage middle school students (Grades 4 through 8 ) by celebrating excellence in academic achievement and encouraging positive study habits.
Canspell believes encouraging spelling and language development through healthy competition teaches students appropriate skills and study habits, and in addition, celebrates academics alongside athletics in the school setting. Twenty-one newspapers host regional spelling bee events under the Canspell brand including the Chronical Journal in Thunder Bay where this year, 37 Northwestern Ontario schools have registered to compete. Each regional competition, from across Canada will send one winner to compete for the Canadian title at the Postmedia Canspell National Final in Toronto this year; the top three from Nationals will also compete internationally at the Scripps Bee in Washington, D.C. in May or June of 2011.
Though many of those who represent their schools at the regional or national level are often from senior grades, Our Lady of Lourdes is very proud to have a Grade 6 student competing regionally on their behalf this year as Lucas Luoma-Uhlik earned the privilege to travel to the Regional’s as winner of last week’s spelling bee.
Luoma-Uhlik will be competing for a chance at some big prizes at both the Thunder Bay and Toronto Spelling Bees. Egg Farmers of Canada provides funding for the Canspell Education Awards, a $5,000 prize presented to each of the 21Top Spellers at the regional bees. At the National Finals, the winner of Postmedia Canspell receives a $7,500 Canspell Education Award; the second and third place spellers receive $5,000 and $2,500 respectively.
Succeeding at Regionals will be no easy feat however; participating students received new study material this year, the Get Cracking® Speller Kit & Study Guide with 450 words and study tips to help them prepare for school bees and the Postmedia Canspell website (www.canspell.com) features the Spell It! Study Guide with another 1100+ words that students should learn to prepare for competition at the regional and national levels. That’s more than 1500 words that Luoma-Uhlik and other bee competitors could potentially be tested on.
Those who would like to follow as Uloma-Uhlik and other young ‘acaletes’ from the Thunder Bay region compete March 5th should check local TV and radio listings as the CBC is Canspell’s new broadcast partner this year, lending their support to help celebrate Canada’s super spellers as they make their way through regional, national and international competition.
The following are schools registered for the Thunder Bay Regional Canspell Bee:
| Agnew H. Johnston Public SchoolBeardmore Public School
Bishop E.Q. Jennings Catholic School Bishop Gallagher Catholic School C.D. Howe Public School Claude E. Garton Public School Corpus Christi Catholic School Crestview Public School Crolancia Public School Ecole Gron Morgan Public School Edgewater Park Public School Five Mile Public School Holy Angels Separate Catholic School Holy Cross School Holy Family Catholic School J.W. Walker School Kingsway Park Public School Nor’wester View Public School Ogden Community School Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic School |
Pope John Paul II Sr. Elementary Catholic SchoolSacred Heart School
Savant Lake Public School Schreiber Public School Sir Winston Churchill Elementary Public School St. Ann Catholic School St. Bernard Catholic School St. Edward Catholic School St. Elizabeth Catholic School St. Francis Catholic School St. Margaret School St. Martin School Terrace Bay Public School Thunder Bay Christian School Westmount Public School Whitefish Valley Public School Woodcrest Public School |
MORE INFO
- Follow Postmedia Canspell on its Facebook Fan Page which will feature reports, photos and more from local students who are following regional and national events
- Learn more about the Postmedia Canspell competition at their website by CLICKING HERE
GOOD LUCK TO LUCAS LUOMA-UHLIK AT THUNDER BAY REGIONALS
Keep watching OntarioNewsNorth.com for news of other Northshore Spelling Superstars who will be travelling to Thunder Bay!
