On January 6, Third, Fourth, and Fifth Grade leaders participated in a Spelling Bee, which was genuinely un-BEE-lievable! All contenders demonstrated confidence and poise as they made their way through six rounds of spelling in front of four judges and a packed audience of Upper Elementary peers. Congratulations to the top three spellers, Triston (’25), Will (’24), and Sylvie (’25). Triston will move forward to compete in the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee!
On the outside, looking in, it may be easy to classify the spelling bee as a fun event to help children improve their spelling ability. However, leadership development and emotional intelligence are at the core of everything we do at The Fay School, including spelling bees.
This event was a fantastic display of leadership development through emotional intelligence. To begin, students competed in their classroom spelling bees. The top contenders were then selected to compete in the final spelling bee held in Fay’s Amphitheatre. During this process, each child experienced a spectrum of emotions: the joy of success, the disappointment of loss, the anxiousness and excitement of competition, the happiness of watching and cheering for peers, and lastly, the acceptance of the outcome. In short, self-regulation and self-motivation were on full display!
Through this experience, which reflected real-life scenarios, every child contended with these emotions, became more self-aware, and ultimately became a better future leader of the world. While only three students made it to the last round of the spelling bee, it is clear that each child gained incredible wisdom to carry with them throughout their individual leadership development journeys.
We are incredibly proud of each child’s growth and can’t wait to see what else awaits them on their journeys as leaders at The Fay School.