On Thursday 14th January Belvedere College hosted the final of the Schools Spelling Bee. The four fantastic spellers who represented Beaufort were Orla Kelly, Leigh Aherne, Maria Graham and Alex O’Connor. The competition was fierce this year with 56 contestants from 14 schools battling it out for the glory of being crowned Spelling Bee Champion.
The initial rounds were challenging and yet, despite this, Beaufort was the only school to have 3 spellers still standing in the final knockout round. Orla, Alex and Maria spelled word after word correctly, cheered on by Juliet Mullarney, Amelia Daly, Allsún McCarthy and Shannon Walsh.
In the end there can only be one winner, Maria Graham and a student from Loreto Foxrock were the last 2 standing and went head to head for the championship. The word was “Psychosomatic,” the tension was unbearable, the atmosphere electric.
And the winner is . . . Our very own Maria Graham!!! A worthy winner. Anyone who can spell “Deoxyribonucleic” deserves to be.
Congratulations to the team – Orla, Alex, Leigh and Maria and the wonderful support of Allsun, Juliet, Shannon and Amelia, you were all amazing!
