Top-10 finish for Tajaun

Jermaine Francis, Staff Reporter

The Gleaner's Children's Own Spelling Bee champion Tajaun Gibbison finished in the top 10 of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C. last night, coming out ahead of 271 other competitors from the United States and around the world.

After cruising into the final, and considered a top contender by ESPN commentators, Tajaun was undone by the word C-H-A-R-T-U-L-A, which means 'a folded paper containing a single dose of a medicinal powder'.

Earlier in the day, The Reverend Glen Archer, Tajaun's coach, said his protégè was mentally prepared for the big moment.

"We prepared him for the big moment ... we had two workshops with him and had gone through some psychological questions that would have faced him in the final stages," Archer told The Gleaner.

A second-form student of the Knox College in Clarendon, Tajaun won the Jamaican Spelling Bee competition in February.

"I had an even better programme this time around," Tajaun said of his experience in this year's competition compared to when he first entered The Gleaner's Children's Own Spelling Bee competition back in 2011.

That programme was fully on display throughout his weeklong international campaign, as round after round, commentators lauded Tajaun as the fiercest challenger for the title.

His family watched the competition via the Internet in Cheapside, Manchester.

Last night, Tajaun's sister, Tafferah, said: "We are proud of him for having got so far and we applaud him for representing the country so well."

jermaine.francis@gleanerjm.com