ONE DAY back in 1966, a little girl named Janice Henry spelled the word 'agglutinate' and won The Gleaner's Children's Own Spelling Bee All-Island title.
Almost 40 years later, she remembers what that was like.
"It seemed like another world then," she chuckles. Now Janice Gentles, and an assistant director at the Bank of Jamaica, she was special guest at the 47th edition of the final held on Wednesday, February 8 at the Jamaica Pegasus Hotel.
Back then, Janice was one of the early champions of the famed Vaz Preparatory programme.
"Vaz was winning every year and I saw it as part of my academic development to enter," she recalls. Unlike some of the students who showed signs of being nervous throughout the competition, Mrs. Gentles had no such problems.
VICTORIOUS
"I never thought that I wouldn't be victorious. For me, it was more tiring than nerves," she recalls. A steely resolve that said, 'I had to win' kept the distractions out and the focus on what mattered most the words. Looking at this year's spellers, she understands what may have been coursing through their minds as they stood to spell. This competition is not for the faint of heart.
"It takes tenacity, perseverance and the basic knowledge to be a champion," she says. "You have to see yourself as a champion."
After her Vaz days, Mrs. Gentles moved on to St. Andrew High School for Girls and then the University of the West Indies. Naturally, she has followed the competition ardently over the years and seen many champions experience the joy she knows all too well. Dr. Clive Lai (currently co-spellmaster) Trudy McLeary and Jody-Ann Maxwell stand out in her mind. Since she knows what it takes to make a champion, would she try to coach one?
CHALLENGE
"I think that's a challenge I'm going to take up soon," she said. She laughs when we ask whether any of her children took on the Spelling Bee.
"Not one of them. Maybe they thought the path was a little too hectic," she jests. When she competed, there wasn't as much media coverage of the event, which some people believe has added to the stress that the children already have to endure. While she acknowledges the strain is greater on the spellers, she still believes that ultimately the competition can only benefit them.
"They need to understand how to deal with it because stress is something they will see throughout their lives and this is a good time to start," she reasons.
