Left: Khadejah Stewart collects a trophy from Gleaner Deputy Managing Director Christopher Barnes during yesterday's Gleaner Children's Own Spelling Bee Scholarship winners presentation at the newspaper's North Street, central Kingston, offices. Right: Samantha Rhule receives a cheque from Rudolph Speid, Gleaner Group financial controller. - photos by Ricardo Makyn/Staff Photographer

Khadejah Stewart, 11, from Wakefield Primary in Trelawny, and Samantha Rhule, 12, from Clonmel Primary and Junior High in St Mary, are this year's winners of The Gleaner's Children's Own Grade Six Achievement Test (GSAT) County Scholarships.

Stewart, in addressing a luncheon held at The Gleaner's North Street, central Kingston, offices yesterday, said her experience in this year's Spelling Bee competition was a very good one.

"All the studying I did in preparation for Spelling Bee paid off in many ways. For example, this year I sat the GSAT, which was quite challenging. I found the spelling skills I had developed through Spelling Bee to be of great help in the language arts and communication task," Stewart said. "Above all, through Spelling Bee I developed study skills and discipline which were particularly useful in preparing for the GSAT examination. My Spelling Bee experience has helped to shape my life and build my character and will definitely influence my future success."

Mathematics parish champ

Stewart has not only excelled in Spelling Bee and GSAT but is also parish champion in the mathematics competition. She will be attending Westwood High and hopes to become a lawyer or paediatrician.

Rhule said she had previously entered Spelling Bee and "was grossly disillusioned when" she placed sixth. "I decided that I should not sit down and bemoan my loss and, like an eagle, I decided that I was going to soar to the top. When I became St Mary Spelling Bee champion, I was the happiest person in the world," Rhule said.

"Participating in the Spelling Bee competition helped me a lot in my GSAT. Being in the competition helped to boost my confidence and built my self-esteem. Since being in the competition, my vocabulary has widened and that helped me a lot in my exams."

Rhule intends to become Jamaica's overall spelling champ and also win the United States-based Scripps National competition. She will be attending St Mary High and hopes to become a neurosurgeon, an entrepreneur and a writer.