A Yorkton youth came within one word of a trip to the Canspell National Spelling Bee at a regional competition on the weekend.
John Oduntan, a Grade 7 student at École St. Michael's, placed second at the March 5 Regina Leader-Post Regional Spelling Bee after more than 25 rounds of tough competition.
Students from 39 Saskatchewan schools were present at the spelling bee, the last gateway tothe Canspell National Final later this month in Toronto.
All were winners at their local competitions, and three were from Yorkton. Andrew McLennan of Yorkdale Central School and Emmerson Tourand of St. Paul's School both lasted several rounds before being eliminated.
Oduntan's final battle with eventual champion Siham Abdullah of Regina lasted nearly 20 rounds by itself-the longest bout in the history of the regional competition.
In addition to a trip to Nationals, the winner received a trophy, a $5,000 Canspell Education Award, and a Sony e-reader. There was no prize for second place beyond the medal received by all contestants, but Oduntan says he isn't too disappointed.
"I'm pretty proud of myself for making it to second."
The 12-year-old didn't feel like he was in top shape for the competition. Oduntan and his family arrived in the city later than planned on Friday night at close to midnight. He had to be up at 6:30 am.
To win the event, a finalist had to spell a word for the round correctly while his or her opponent spelled one wrong. The winner then had to spell a follow-up word correctly or else reset the scores for another round.
The advantage went back and forth between Oduntan and Abdullah over the rounds as the difficulty of the words steadily ramped up.
Oduntan finally stumbled on the word "dichotomy," allowing Abdullah to go on and win with "apartheid" and "archipelago."
But afterward for Oduntan, it all seemed like a blur.
"I was really tired," he says. "I don't remember most of the words."
A French immersion student at St. Michael's, Oduntan receives far fewer hours of English-language instruction per week than most Saskatchewan students-something that might seem like a disadvantage in an English spelling bee.
But Oduntan doesn't see it as an issue. It helps, of course, that he puts in many extra hours of studying on his own time.
The Yorkton student has been participating in spelling bees since Grade 4, but he has never made it this far before.
"Not even close. I haven't won the school spelling bee. I haven't even really gone two rounds before."
Oduntan is eligible to participate in Canspell for one more year, and he intends to make the most of it.
"I'm probably going to make it to nationals," he says.
John Oduntan is the son of Wole and Lolade Oduntan.
