Education 2nd Annual Agency-Wide Spelling Bee 2015

PHOTO: Staff in the Austin Education Division office served as moderators and judges for youth participating in 2nd Annual Spelling Bee.
Youth from all TJJD facilities participated via video conference.

When we are faced with words like “Obviate,” “Efficacy,” and “Quixotic,” we will often rely on the spell-check option to ensure we don’t make a mistake. But 20 TJJD students didn’t have spell-check to depend on. They were part of the 2nd Annual Agency-Wide Spelling Bee sponsored by the TJJD Education Department.

Each campus, including the Phoenix unit, was given a list of more than 1,200 spelling words from the Merriam-Webster’s Online Dictionary that were broken down into four tiers to study for their chance at the finals. Each campus was responsible for holding the preliminary rounds of the Spelling Bee to determine their top three spellers that would compete in the finals.

Excitement filled the room as all of the facilities faced off for the finals! Each campus was represented by their best and the college classrooms were filled with support from the adults that cheered on the students as they competed round after round.

Our Top 2 “Spellers,” IC-S (1st place) and JC (2nd Place), are from the Phoenix Unit housed at the McLennan Residential Treatment Center. EC from the Ron Jackson State Juvenile Correctional Complex took 3rd place. Each of the contestants will receive a t-shirt with the runner-up Spelling Bee logo, and our first place winner will receive a t-shirt with the winning Spelling Bee logo.

Congratulations to all of our participants and a tremendous THANK YOU to everyone who helped to make this event such a success.

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