Story & photo Eve Jeffery
Pyrotechnic was the word that saw Jolina Wilbur of Ocean Shores win the region’s Spelling Bee in her age group.
For the second year in a row, Jolina and her mum Cheryl will travel to Sydney to compete in the state finals of the Premier’s Spelling Bee, an event that was introduced in 2004 as a fun and educational way for primary school students to engage in spelling.
The Spelling Bee program includes activities to encourage all students and promote improved literacy in combination with the English K–6 Syllabus.
The Spelling Bee is open to all NSW government primary, central and community schools. The competition comprises two divisions – Junior for years 3 and 4 and Senior for years 5 and 6.
Last year Jolina competed in the Junior division and this year she has proven again that she has what it takes with the big guns in the Senior section.
Ocean Shores Public School principal Chris Hauritz has nothing but praise for this year 5 student. ‘We are thrilled to have Jolina at our school; she is an absolute talent,’ says Chris. ‘She is a delight in all aspects of her school life.
‘She is not only brilliant with her literacy and her spelling, and her numeracy; she is an incredibly talented creative artist and a wonderful singer and dancer, who takes every opportunity that she can to entertain us and share her skills with us.
‘She makes us smile and she makes us laugh because she is just a bubbly, delightful young lady.’
Chris says that Jolina has put in a lot of effort in terms of the spelling bee and the achievements of reaching the state spelling finals for the second year in a row.
‘I know how hard she works and how much time she spends looking at words and ploughing through dictionaries and challenging herself with different literacy problems, and she just takes all that in her stride.’
Words for the competition are provided by the Macquarie Dictionary and are divided into several categories. Junior and Senior students study different wordlists. Regional and state finals also include unseen words in later rounds.
At each final, there is a demonstration round using simple words to help familiarise contestants with the competition format. No-one is eliminated in this round. This is followed by elimination rounds of increasing difficulty. At the regional and state finals, the elimination process continues round by round.
Jolina is very excited about her visit to Sydney and is looking forward to the challenge. ‘Participating in the spelling bee is a lot of fun,’ she said. ‘It’s exciting to see all the other kids there from all over the state. It’s a really good challenge and I can’t wait to get there.’
Chris says he and the entire school community wish Jolina good luck for the trip.
‘We know she will represent her school and her friends and family with great pride and do what she does all the time, her absolute best.’
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