13th annual Adult Spelling Bee raises thousands for Kamloops literacy programs

KAMLOOPS – ‘Irresistible,’ ‘garrulous’ and ‘flamboyant’ were just a few of the 15 words teams were tasked with spelling at this year’s adult spelling bee for Literacy in Kamloops.

“There are a few toughies. I think you start second-guessing yourself after a while. But the team — that’s why you have a team to pull together,” said Michele Young, team captain of the TRU Spellcats. “I think ‘querulous’ was probably one of the toughest ones today.”

Teams had 60 seconds to spell each word correctly.

Valerie Janz, a team member of ‘I Can’t Spell (Interior Community Services)’ said her team lived up to its name.

“There were a lot of hard words. Some we hadn’t even heard of,” said Janz. “We are social workers. I’m a math person, not a spell person.”

Fiona Clare, Literacy Outreach Coordinator at Literacy in Kamloops says the 13th annual spelling bee showcases adult literacy.

“Often when we think of literacy, we just think of our kids learning to read and write, and yet literacy is so much more than that,” she said.

In the end, only one team had a perfect score — last year’s defending champions, the TRU Spellcats.

But everyone was happy to be supporting the Raise-a-Reader program in Kamloops.

“That’s probably the best part of it, is just knowing and hearing about those stories,” said Young. “It’s a little tense during the competition. Everybody’s a little bit on edge. But overall, it’s just a fun.”

“I just think the cause is really good,” added Janz. “It’s early years literacy and we’re just a real supporter of community events that support the people in our little world here in Kamloops.”

According to Clare, the event raised about $13,000 for Raise-a-Reader, funding local literacy programs for all ages.