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Word wonders Print E-mail
Written by Dave Paulson, Citizen editor   
Sunday, 15 April 2007
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It was, in a word, spellbinding.Canada’s 15 best young spellers took the stage at the beautiful Canadian Museum of Civilization outside Ottawa on Saturday night to crown a national champion.Among them were two girls from Prince George — 12-year-old Grade 7 student Sonja Olsson and 10-year-old Grade 5 student Athena Nghi Huynh.Sonja, from Spruceland elementary, and Athena, from Heritage elementary, reached Saturday’s spotlight by being flawless in Friday‚s preliminary rounds in which 26 spellers were eliminated.With a national TV audience watching on Global, Sonja and Athena made Prince George proud at the CanWest CanSpell national spelling bee.Athena, perfect through qualifying as champion of the Prince George Citizen regional spelling bee at Vanier Hall on March 3 and again in Friday’s rounds, placed 14th.Sonja, runner-up to Athena at The Citizen qualifier, held the Ottawa audience in her hand as she painstakingly wrestled her words to the end. She finished 11th.What was remarkable about Sonja, Athena and the other 13 finalists was the flat-out poise they exhibited. Imagine standing on a brightly-lit stage in front of a panel of steely-faced judges, an auditorium full of onlookers and a few hundred thousand people watching on TV, and being asked to correctly spell a word you’ve probably never heard of, let alone seen in writing.Most cities didn’t have one competitor among the final 15. Prince George had two and it couldn’t have gone unnoticed by CanSpell organizers, who expanded the field this year to include Prince George, Kamloops, Kelowna and Lethbridge, Alta.More than 200,000 young Canadians participated in the regional playdowns, and having our two girls reach the final 15 is nothing short of amazing.And the best might be yet to come. Both Sonja and Athena are eligible to compete again next year.Needless to say, Sonja and Athena are already champions to those of us in their hometown.— Editor Dave Paulson
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