San Bernardino Community College District to host spelling bee, March 16
K-12 students to compete at San Bernardino Valley College
The San Bernardino County Spelling Bee will be hosted by the San Bernardino Community College District this year. Young competitors from more than 20 elementary and middle schools will be coming to the San Bernardino Valley College auditorium to prove that their spelling skills are the best. Students will be competing on March 16, 2019 starting at 9 a.m. and the winner will have the honor of representing our region at the Scripps National Spelling Bee held near Washington D.C. The spelling bee is open to the public, admission free.
“The San Bernardino County Spelling Bee is not just a competition, it’s an opportunity to instill in young students the importance of hard-work, persistence and goal-setting,” said Bruce Baron, Chancellor of the San Bernardino Community College District, which includes Crafton Hills College and San Bernardino Valley College.
For students looking to prove that their spelling skills are the best in the nation, students first compete against their friends and peers at their local school. Then, after a champion emerges, he or she competes at the county level for a chance to go to nationals. Just until very recently students were not getting their hopes up of going to the nation’s capital since San Bernardino county had lost its previous spelling bee host. This would have been the case for the 2019 competition if not for one motivated individual.
Attorney and mother, Isabel Safie, learned that her son’s friend could not compete given that there wasn’t a host for the 2019 San Bernardino County Spelling Bee. Having a deep seeded belief in the importance of educational opportunities for students, Safie decided to step up and do what was necessary to find a sponsor.
Safie enlisted the help of her colleagues at Best Best & Krieger LLP in Riverside to find a host. After months of knocking on doors and reaching out to regional non-profit organizations, Safie connected with the San Bernardino Community College District.
Chancellor Baron, excited by the opportunity to give young students the chance to prove their spelling skills, launched a task force led by SBCCD to organize this year’s spelling bee. The task force brings together Safi, the San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools’ office, Empire KVCR and community support from Best Best & Krieger and Cal State San Bernardino.
“It was a long, drawn-out process that SBCCD validated by its commitment to the young members of our community at large by stepping up when no other organization could,” said Safi. “Hosting a regional spelling bee is no easy endeavor, but it’s a worthwhile effort that encourages our students to strive for success and I am so pleased to see our regional bee back on track.”
Learn more at: http://my.ieaccelerator.com/spellingbee/
