Wes Underwood is looking forward to representing The Bahamas at the 2023 Scripps Spelling Bee, but his excitement is tempered with the knowledge that the competition will be tough. And has reached out to previous four-time national champion Roy Seligman, the only Bahamian to earn a semi-finals berth, for tips.

"I have actually already reached out to him [Roy] and plan to get some tips," said Wes, 13, who took two days off after his win.

"You could never study too much," said the Samuel Guy Pinder All Age School eighth-grade student.

"I've downloaded my dictionary app and will begin studying that."

While he is already looking ahead to Scripps in May in Washington, D.C., he still looks back to his recent win, which he said means a lot.

"[The national win] is very special to me because of the many hours of hard work I put in. This is something I will never forget, and a memory I will cherish forever."

Wes won with the word "syntrophism".

The win means even more to Wes, who has entered spelling competitions since first grade, but in his final year of eligibility advanced past the district spelling competition to claim the national title.

He was also pleased to take the win for his school.

"It means so much to my school because my school has never ever had a student win the district spelling bee to move on to the nationals. And for me being there for the first time for my school and island, winning felt amazing.

"I still can't believe I actually won," said the son of Natalia and Yancy Underwood.

Wes said he was nervous going in, but knew that he had studied hard.

"I knew that the competition would be tough, especially against the private schools, and coming from such a small island and school, and it being my first time there."

Upon his return to Spanish Wells, Wes said he was met by his peers who he said screamed and cheered for him and offered congratulations. He said his teachers also expressed how proud of him they were.

Navidia Mills, Samuel Guy Pinder All Age School principal, said they have plans underway for a celebration in Wes' honor.

"It just goes to show that great things can happen in the government school," she said of his win. "This is a small school - hard work, perseverance and determination paid off for Wes."

In only her second year at the school, Mills said she learned that Wes made attempts at spelling bees from first grade and was proud to see that he finally broke through.

"He always wins the interhouse spelling bee competition, and this year would have been his last opportunity to participate at district level and at the national stage, and he won," she said.

Wes also credits his mother with encouraging him.

"My mother knew that I was a good speller from a young age and she pushed me to succeed," he said.

After the competition on New Providence, Wes said he went to Baha Mar that night and bought candy.

When not learning words, Wes said he enjoys basketball, video games, playing piano and saxophone, and eating desserts. He said he also enjoys school and tries his best to do well in all his subjects. He also loves solving the Rubik's Cube and other puzzles.

The 26th Annual Bahamas National Spelling Bee Final Competition was held on March 19 at the Breezes resort on Cable Beach.

Wes out-spelled 23 other contestants for the win. Maria Sanchez, 14, an eighth-grade student at St. Andrew's International School, finished in the runner-up position.

Ty Williams, 11, a sixth-grade student at Genesis Academy, finished third.

Wes is headed to the Scripps competition at which Roy Seligman has set an impressive bar.

The 93rd Scripps competition in 2021, saw Roy as the first Bahamian to advance to the finals of the prestigious competition since The Bahamas began competing at Scripps in 1998.

Roy tied for fourth place with three other spellers. He had previously competed at Scripps in 2019 and tied for 51st place.

His impressive run took place one year after Scripps was canceled in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was the first time the spelling bee had been canceled since 1945.

Scripps' Spelling Bee Week takes place from May 28 to June 2 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in National Harbour, Maryland.

Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture the Hon Mario Bowleg not only brought words of encouragement to students taking part in the E. Clement Bethel National Arts Festival New Providence Adjudications, on March 22, 2023, he also stayed for the entire session that day, at Christ Community Church, Bellot Road.  His presence in the audience, and for the entire session, was a treat for the students, and the organizers.  At that session, students played violins, tuned percussion (bells), and the saxophone.  The C.V. Bethel Concert Band also performed a beautiful piece; and Tanisha Thompson of the Grant's Town Wesley Methodist Church Wesley Bell Ringer, gave a stand-out rendition on hand bells.  Also present from the Festival were Senior Cultural Affairs Officer and Organizing Secretary of the Festival Sonovia Pierre, adjudicators Dr. Dion Cunningham and Ronald Campbell, as well as staff members from the Division of Cultural Affairs.

Hundreds of senior high school students across Grand Bahama and Abaco had the opportunity to speak with representatives from six tertiary institutions during Gemini Educators and Associates (GEA) Spring College Fair 2023 Showcase.

Chervita Campbell, guidance counselor at Sister Mary Patricia Russell Junior High School and GEA's administrator, explained that this year's college fair was unique.

"This year, we not only wanted to target students in Grand Bahama, but also students in Abaco," Campbell said.

"I also gave the representatives a challenge, if we can get at least five students per school enrolled, it would put a dent in the numbers of students counselors want to see going directly from high school to college."

"That's what we are looking at and that's our goal."

The six colleges included four international schools: Millikin University, Monroe College, Oakwood University and Texas Southern University (TSU), and two local institutions: Terreve College and University of The Bahamas.

On March 9, students from grades 10, 11 and 12 on Grand Bahama attended the showcase at the Belinda Wilson Complex/Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT) Hall.

On March 10, the three grade levels on Abaco got their chance.

Campbell said GEA members wanted to get students thinking about furthering their education before reaching grade 12.

"We really wanted to target them from ninth grade, so that they could start thinking about college," she said.

"To start preparing themselves in grade 10 to sit some of the American exams early, so when they get to grade 12, they should have selected and applied to the school they want to attend," she said.

In addition to bringing colleges and students together, Campbell said GEA also assists students with choosing a major, completing scholarship applications, meeting required deadlines and meeting with parents to ensure the selected school fits the student and the parent.

"As we get back into the flow of things, after the storm and COVID, we want to give our students the best opportunities to further their education and prepare for the future," Campbell said.

Eight Mile Rock High School 10th grader Jakayla Brown said all of the booths she visited shared information that was useful to her.

"Most offered housing, grants and scholarships, however, only two peaked, Monroe College and Oakwood University," said the 15-year-old.

She noted that Monroe may be her choice as its acceptance rate was 79 percent for Bahamian students and the programs were highly recognized including her intended major.

"Pathology ... I want to study diseases," she said.

Monroe College representative Alexia Pratt told Grand Bahama News that there was great interest in programs offered at the school.

I am definitely seeing a lot of business majors - accounting, real estate, entrepreneurship," he said.

"A lot of students are also interested in nursing or becoming midwives. Monroe College has great nursing and allied health and sciences programs," Pratt said.

She added that there was also much interest in the hospitality program.

Pratt, a Bahamian, who has already completed her Bachelor's of Business Administration in Business Management and Master's of Business Administration in Finance at Monroe, said she believes her experience encouraged students to apply to the college.

Monroe offers partial academic scholarships, but in partnership with the Ministry of Education, Bahamian students can apply for full scholarship assistance.

Following the event, Campbell reported that several 12th graders who applied online at the college fair were accepted and conducted interviews onsite.

"The colleges that participated in the showcase are partners with the Ministry of Education's Scholarship Unit under the Public School Scholars Program (PSSP); therefore, the students are also required to apply and meet the criteria for the program," Campbell said.

"So, we are hopeful that they will be successful in securing scholarship assistance to further their education."

The Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) recently hosted a one-day workshop under the theme, "Exposing Marine Pollution."

Thirty students from senior high schools in New Providence gathered at Delaporte Beach on West Bay Street where they participated in hands-on activities and learned more about marine conservation.

The Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) event inspired students to gain knowledge through discussions with environmental and media professionals, who gave presentations on how to tell a story using photos, video, and writing.

Environmental Scientist Dr. Ancilleno Davis, Photographer Dominic Duncombe, Journalist Crystal Darling, and Videographer Ryan Farquharson engaged students throughout the day with presentations aimed at strengthening and developing their marine environmental reporting skills.

C.R. Walker student, Santino Miller said he was inspired by the event, explaining that his heart is set on working in the field as a geologist someday.

"We learned that there are many different things that you can do in order to help with marine conservation ... simply by not littering you can help a lot and I will explain this to my peers when I go to school," said Miller.

"We learned the different ways to properly frame and take a photo," said Iyah-Eden Rolle. "We also did a beach cleanup which made me realize how much trash in our environment that we have to make an effort to properly clean."

Kendea Smith, Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources public relations official outlined the importance of storytelling with students.

"At the ministry it is my departments' job to tell a story of what the ministry is doing to improve the community, so, BREEF was a perfect partner, giving us the opportunity to talk to the kids today about conservation, especially coral conservation. It's a big part of what we do, we tell stories almost every day," said Smith.

Environmental education is essential, according to BREEF Executive Director Casuarina McKinney-Lambert who noted that as an archipelagic nation, The Bahamas is greatly affected by what happens in its waters.

"The Young Reporters for the Environment program challenges young people to look at the ocean and the land around them, identify challenges and also think about solutions and think about effective ways of communicating about what's going on in the ocean around us," said McKinney-Lambert.

BREEF is the national operator for the Young Reporters for the Environment (YRE) program in The Bahamas. The global program aims to empower students aged 11 to 25 to take a stand on environmental issues they feel strongly about and give them a platform to call attention to the issues through the media of writing, photography, or video. There are more than 350,000 young reporters in 45 countries across the world.