CBU to Sponsor Nova Scotia Spelling Bee

Every year the best young spellers in the world converge in Washington, DC for the Scripps National Spelling Bee and this year a student from Nova Scotia will be one of them.

“The Nova Scotia Spelling Bee is rising again,” said Todd Pettigrew, Associate Professor of Literature, Folklore and the Arts and Spelling Bee Organizer. “The best spellers from schools across the province will advance to the regional competition at Cape Breton University and the regional winner will go on to Washington.”

For many years, Nova Scotia students had a chance to participate in large-scale spelling bees through school, regional, national, and international competitions like Scripps and Canspell. That tradition continued until 2017 with thousands of students across the province not only learning about the English language, but building poise, work habits, and self-confidence along the way.

The new bee is open to any Nova Scotia student who has not yet completed Grade 8, but organizers need the help of principals and teachers to get things rolling again. “Right now, the most important thing is getting schools to sign on,” says Pettigrew. “Spellers can only come to the regional competition through a school, though that could be any school, public, private or even a home school.”

Pettigrew explains that if parents have young spellers eager to compete, they should encourage their children’s schools to sign up. Schools can register at the Scripps site at www.spellingbee.com

There is a small fee for schools to register and the school-level bees must be completed by the end of December, 2021. The regional bee at CBU will take place March 12, 2022.