Education

WorldStrides Surprises State-wide Spelling Bee Winner with Airfare to the National Spanish Spelling Bee

WorldStrides surprised Salem Church Middle School student Jayli Jimenez Garcia with airfare to represent her school at the National Spanish Spelling Bee in San Antonio, Texas. Jayli grabbed the top spot out of 140 students who participated in the Bee. The national event will take place July 13-16, 2017.

This will be the first plane ride for the 14-year-old eighth grader, who humbly accepted the ticket from WorldStrides VP of Curriculum and Academics Wendy Amato in front of her classmates, who cheered her on along the way.

“Cross-cultural competency, global readiness, multilingualism, self-confidence and readiness for challenge are outcomes of our travel programs, so you can see why it makes sense for WorldStrides to support an event like the Spanish Spelling Bee, too,” said Amato.  “Our focus on learning beyond classroom walls is about real-world experiences and non-traditional learning contexts. Jayli’s participation in the National Spanish Spelling Bee is a lovely example of blending travel and education”

State-wide Spelling Bee coordinators include Jeremy Aldrich, Foreign Language and CTE Coordinator from Harrisonburg Public Schools, The Virginia Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese (AATSP-VA) and The Harrisonburg Education Foundation.

The National Spanish Spelling Bee, now in its seventh year, is open to students from grades three to eight. The competition aims to promote bilingualism and bi-literacy across the country.

We’ll follow up with Jayli when she gets back. In the meantime, Vamos Jayli!