Competition is in the blood, and teamwork highly prized here in the territory — and not only on the sports field. For over 20 years, a competition of a different kind has been held for our schoolchildren — and according to KVZK TV, it is one of their most popular programs and as competitive as any sporting event.

 Each year in February — for 21 consecutive years — Samoa News has presented an academic competition that pits the best spellers on the island against one another, and while the emphasis in the local event is not on the team — once the individual is chosen to represent American Samoa in the Scripps National Spelling Bee, the whole island gets behind him or her.

The Bee is a large financial undertaking, and has had generous corporate partners over the years. This year, the Territorial Bee is proud to announce its newest major corporate sponsor: McDonald’s American Samoa, which has added the Bee to its corporate supported education programs, which includes scholarships for local high school students to higher education on and off island.

As in all competitions — it is dedication, practice and hard work that count here and not just among the young spellers. Many people have contributed to the success of the Samoa News Territorial Spelling Bee over the years, however it got its start from an extraordinary teacher. 

HOW IT ALL BEGAN

The first Territorial Spelling Bee was held here in 1995. It really boiled down to the passion and persistence of one person: Evelyn Lili’o-Satele. Evelyn, like her mother before her, has devoted her career to education, and Samoa News caught up with her over the weekend to hear her story. In an interview in Fagaalu Park, she reminisced about the Bee.

She has watched children come and go under the bright lights of the KVZK-TV studios, challenged by words they may never use — in a language not their mother tongue. “And they have prevailed,” she said.

She recalled for Samoa News that many years ago, working as an English Specialist for the Department of Education, she had been approached by people during an off-island conference as to why American Samoa had no participants in the National Spelling Bee. She did a little research, and learned of the National Spelling Bee requirements — the first of which was that the core sponsor must be a newspaper.  So, she said she began to “bug Lewis Wolman” then owner and general editor of the Samoa News.

After months of “relentless pleading and persuading” she said Wolman graciously gave in, and the first Territorial Bee was held in the KVZK TV studios in Utulei. Evelyn remembers the first Bee champion: Jessica Hisatake of Aua. As the years rolled by, the venue remained the same, except for once (or twice) when the Rainmaker Hotel became the site of the very successful competition.

Evelyn lights up when she talks about the Bee. She said statistics have shown that Spelling Bee winners are very likely to succeed academically, and pursue higher degrees in education, and “this has been the case with our students in American Samoa.”

She noted that one of our judges this year — Samuel Meleisea — participated in several local Bees as a student from Manulele Jr. High (now Tafuna Elementary). He achieved a ranking in the top three each time, graduated high school with honors, went on to earn his Bachelor’s degree, and is currently working as a Park Ranger for the National Park Service.

“I’m excited and humbled by the opportunity to be a judge this year,” Meleisea told Samoa News. “It’s great to be back as a judge, instead of a student. John Enright and Dr. Kolhoff-Belle were amazing teachers, but they were intimidating in the studios!”

“But it was all thanks to the hard work of our teachers and our parents — they were great supporters for us. I’d especially like to send a shout-out to Ms. Evelyn, who always challenged us to do our best. I cannot remember a Bee without her.”

Evelyn said that over the years, they sought judges for the Bee, and those judges — all volunteering their time, came from all walks of life. The Bee also requires “pronouncers”, and two veteran volunteers were pronouncers for more than half of those 21 years: John Enright, accomplished author and poet, and Dr. Kathleen Kolhoff-Belle, Vice President at the American Samoa Community College. “And I cannot forget Lewis Wolman, who has been fully supportive of the Bee since Samoa News became its primary sponsor.”

The tradition continues, and this year will see the young students from third through eighth grade, public and private schools, compete with one another to attend the Scripps National Spelling Bee held near Washington DC. Bee champions will convene there from all over the United States, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Department of Defense Schools in Europe. There will also be winners from the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan, South Korea — and American Samoa.

“My greatest joy is meeting the new — and sometimes old — faces of the competitors. As the Student Coordinator of the Bee, I see my role as the person who puts the competitor’s nerves to rest. We spend several hours together each week, several weeks before the Bee, reviewing the rules, and utilizing whatever can be used — within the boundaries of the rules — to gather more information about each word… and above all, to allow for ‘think time’.”

Over the years, Evelyn says, the competition has been fantastic, but in the last several years, the students have been so well-prepared, that they have run through the recommended list provided by the National Bee, and have had to break out a new list — also sent by the National Bee — and the second list consists of words the students have not prepared for.

The children come to the Territorial Bee as the champion from their own respective school; they’ve had to battle it out with their classmates for that spot. Now, in front of the cameras in the TV studio, with parents, teachers, administrators and siblings quietly but nervously waiting in the wings, the children are assembled while their supporters watch them on live TV.

  Evelyn says that she spends the morning at the Bee calming everyone’s nerves — the children’s as well as parents — reassuring them that all will go well. “Breathe deeply. Take your time.”

Asked about any particular Bee that stands out in her mind, she said it was the Bee held just two or three years ago.  She said, smiling, “ After some 33 rounds we were ready to order dinner! I thought we would be there well into the night!”

(In the National Bee, after a certain number of rounds, two winners can be declared, but for each state and territory, only one person is allowed to represent.)

The winner of the local bee will be sent, along with his or her spelling coach to the Bee, all expenses paid.

Evelyn reminisced that she was the chaperone that first year and pronounced the entire experience “awesome” — for her as well as for Jessica.  To this day, she tells the contestants; “if you win… there’s a Virginia-style barbecue, and all the ice cream you can possibly eat waiting for you at the National Bee.”

Evelyn says that winners from the Territory have been, for the most part, girls. But “there was an occasional Bee where the majority of participants were young men.” And last year’s winner was a young man from Manu’a — Walter Fa’apouli — the first local winner from the Manu’a islands.

MARK YOUR CALENDARS

The Territorial Spelling Bee is scheduled for Wednesday, February 18.

The next Bee practices will be held on Thursday, Feb 12 and again on Feb 17 (the Tuesday before the Bee). Both will be held at the ASDOE Teacher Quality Training Center on Tasi Street in Lions Park.

This year, there will also be a special training session on Saturday, Feb 14, in the Eastern District at the Satele Guest House in Alao, beginning at 9 a.m. Evelyn invites all Bee participants, parents and coaches out to Alao. “Everyone is welcome to attend this session.”

“I’d like to send out a thank you to all of our supporters — the DOE, Samoa News, the teachers, coaches, parents and all those who support our children in this special event,” she said.

“I would especially like to thank Charlie Tautolo and McDonald’s as our newest corporate sponsor. McDonald’s has shown, and continues to show great support for our young scholars.”