Republic Bank Supports ICBL Junior Spelling Bee

Republic Bank welcomed the opportunity to partner with the Insurance Corporation of Barbados Limited (ICBL) in hosting its inaugural Junior Spelling Bee. Targeting Primary School children between the ages of 9 and 11, the competition attracted participation from over 30 public and private primary schools with over 80 students competing.

According to ICBL’s Head of Marketing and Communications, Averil Byer, “the ICBL Junior Spelling Bee was created to reinvigorate the love for words and reading amongst our youth, improve the spelling of students; increase their vocabulary; teach word-building concepts and instill good use of English in the participants.”

For several years, youth development has been a core mandate of Republic Bank as it continues to support projects which create an avenue for Barbados’ children to grow, learn and thrive.

In its inaugural year, the interest was keen among the primary schools on island as 84 students participated in the preliminary round which was held at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre on the 10th of October, 2019. Participants were given 90 seconds to spell their word.

42 students advanced to the final which was held at Sandals Royal Barbados on October 25th, 2019. It was an exciting spell off as finalists were given 120 seconds to spell their word. It came down to a nail biting finish with four students, three boys and one girl, vying for the coveted top prize.

At the end of the evening the lone girl Bianca Massiah of Providence Elementary emerged winner. 1st runner up was Johnathan Broomes of The Rock Christian Primary, 2nd runner up Luke McIntyre, a student of St. Gabriel’s Primary and 3rd runner up was Mekhi Osei of Bay Primary School; he was a clear crowd favourite on the evening.

Republic Bank contributed one of the third place prizes, a cheque for seven hundred and fifty dollars ($750.00) awarded to Luke McIntyre of St. Gabriel’s School.

Republic Bank congratulates ICBL on this valuable initiative, the winner Bianca Massiah, and all other students who participated in the contest!