Six spellers compete at Eastern Agency Bee

GALLUP

The second of five regional qualifiers for the Navajo Times-Navajo Nation Agency Spelling Bee took place this morning in Crownpoint, New Mexico.

Baca/Dlo’ay Azhi Community Elementary School was the only school in attendance for the competition.

Six students from the fifth and sixth grades completed the competition in less than an hour.

Baca students have been practicing since the latter part of November. On Thursday, they seemed confident and not too nervous being a small group.

The pronouncer, who speaks the words out loud, for the Crownpoint Bee was Tyrone Begay, the center manager for Diné College-Crownpoint Center. Pronouncers provide all the information a speller can receive about a word in the moment: origin, part of speech, and an example or two of its use in a sentence.

Begay is Tó’aheedlíinii and born for Ts’ah Yisk’idnii. His maternal grandfather is Kinyaa’áanii, and his paternal grandfather is Tł’ógí.

Begay commented on the turnout for the competition and explained that he anticipated more schools from the area would have participated in the spelling bee. He hopes to see a more vibrant turnout next year.

“It was exciting. The students gave their best efforts,” Begay said.

This was Begay’s first experience being involved with a spelling bee.

“Having Office of Diné Youth host the event and see them follow all the protocols and ins and outs, I was pretty impressed,” Begay said.

ODY program project specialist Kristen Pablo was instrumental in keeping the flow and coordinating with all involved.

“It was great to see the kids compete. They all seemed so cool today,” Pablo said.

Virginia Nelson, program supervisor III for the Crownpoint Agency Office of Diné Youth, was one of the judges in the bee.

Nelson spoke fondly of all of the students that came out.

“I am here because I am passionate for all the kids,” Nelson said.

Nelson said she would like more area schools to be involved. She explains that in the past, many schools participated year after year, and it was successful. However, in recent years, participation has declined.

“Next year, I think we all need to regroup,” Nelson said. “We really need to strive to have more schools participate for the kids.”

The spelling bee sponsor was Jimmy Thomas, the communications director for Baca/Dlo’Ay Azhi Community School, who was unavailable for comment.

 

2023 Eastern Agency Spelling Bee results:

Sponsor – Jimmy Thomas

Fifth grade
Champion – Mason Barbone
Runner-up – Gabryl Ortega

Sixth grade
Champion – Lanel Long
Runner-up – Keidra Kenneth

The remaining Navajo Times-Navajo Nation Agency spelling bees will take place in Shiprock Feb. 15, Ft. Defiance Feb. 16, and Tuba City Feb. 23.

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