On June 8, I at­tend­ed a Den­tal Health Spelling Bee Com­pe­ti­tion held at the San Juan Health Cen­tre. The com­pe­ti­tion unit­ed pri­ma­ry schools in the San Juan area and I must say that I was a very sat­is­fied on­look­er.

The par­tic­i­pants were young boys who sat the SEA ex­am­i­na­tion and to me this was the best part. Why? In a so­ci­ety deeply marked by crim­i­nal ac­tiv­i­ties and neg­a­tiv­i­ty, it is too good to see our fu­ture gen­er­a­tion chan­nelling their en­er­gies in such a worth­while way. The par­tic­i­pants were re­quired to spell and, in some cas­es, de­fine a�va­ri­ety of den­tal terms. I was marked by the con­fi­dence lev­el of the boys as well as their ef­forts. Prizes were very at­trac­tive and in­clud­ed tro­phies and sta­tionery. Each boy was con­grat­u­lat­ed and went away with a book prize as well as a cer­tifi­cate–a def­i­nite en­cour­age­ment. �

As an ed­u­ca­tor, I ex­tend my ap­pre­ci­a­tion to Cheryl-Ann Roberts, den­tal nurse and co-or­di­na­tor, as well as the oth­er hands and minds that helped to re­alise this event. I look for­ward to the host­ing of sim­i­lar com­pe­ti­tions in the near fu­ture. Neg­a­tiv­i­ty and op­pres­sion are grip­ping our so­ci­ety but we need not lay down and see it erode the moral­i­ty, spir­i­tu­al­i­ty and in­tel­li­gence of our chil­dren. Every sec­tor of our so­ci­ety has its part to play. Con­grat­u­la­tions to the par­tic­i­pants!

F De La Vi­gne

San Juan