Set off
Gather, set off! With full of expectations, with the blessings of family and friends, with the infinite vision of the American Challenge, our WUIS Spelling Team once again embarked on the journey. Looking back over the past six months, we grew from knowing nothing about the games to the amazing results in the semi-finals, and then to becoming the black horse in the national finals. Each game conveyed a bigger dream, which was to stand on a higher stage and enjoy applause to share the glory! So, for the same dream, we headed to Princeton.
Training
Landing, training. In the week before the Princeton competition, we first came to Towson University for a one-week course and cultural experience. The excellent spellers from China and the United States grouped together to study and live by age, and developed a profound friendship.
Competition
Fight, start! Among the eight teams participating in the competition this year, there was a super team—the Lord of Lexicon, which was led by Christopher Serrao, the E.W. Scripps National Spelling Bee champion, with another four champions or top spellers from the event. Although there were strong opponents, our spellers still withstood the pressure. In the group stage, they defeated all the team players by 3:2, 5:0, 5:0 respectively and advanced to the semi-finals. In the semi-finals, in the face of the equally strong SUIS Shangyin Team, we successfully advanced to the finals with wonderful and stable performance! In the most intense Sino-US championship game, our spellers went down swinging and finally won the second prize of the 2018-2019 ITSO Princeton Challenge! Really glorious!
Friendship
Applause, ending! Although the game was over, the friendship between Chinese and American children was deeper in spite of different skin colors, different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, and different growth environments. Because of the same goal, they met each other, competed but admired each other as well. Everyone exchanged gifts with others, and wished to meet again next season!
Glorious Return
As the world’s oldest English language event, Spelling Bee attracts thousands of players from different countries and different ages every year. It is more than a competition by spreading team spirit and the spirit of grit. I hope more children can fall in love with spelling, enjoy the fun of spelling games, and continue to climb towards their dreams!