Students of the various schools from both San Pedro Town and Caye Caulker Village participated in the 13th Annual Coca Cola National Spelling Bee Zone 5 Elimination. The event started at 9AM on Thursday February 21st at the San Pedro Lions Den. A total of 14 students competed from 7 different schools which included Ambergris Caye Elementary School (ACES), Caye Caulker Roman Catholic School, Holy Cross Anglican School, Isla Bonita Elementary School, New Horizon Seventh Day Adventist School, San Pedro Roman Catholic School and The Island Academy. The winners will represent Zone 5 at the District Eliminations are scheduled to take place in Belize City on April 30th.
The competition went to five rounds, and in the end, The Island Academy’s Zulema Ayala took first place, while Kaylee Kumul took second place. Shanelly Guttierez of San Pedro Roman Catholic School took third place in the sixth round of competition. In the case that the first or second place winners are unable to compete, the third place winner will act as the alternate speller in the District Elimination. The 
judges of this year’s spelling bee were Timrose Augustine, Angel Nuñez and Julia Martinez. Lucien Pollard was the representative for Bowen and Bowen Limited, and he presented the prizes to the excellent spellers.
District Education Officer for San Pedro Town, Miriam Codd would like to express her thanks to Bowen and Bowen Ltd. for making the event possible and encouraging the students to continue to improve in their spelling skills. The San Pedro Sun joins the community in congratulating all participants for taking the educational challenge and wishes the best of luck to the spellers that advanced to the district finals.
