Last Friday we showed you the Coca-Cola National Spelling Bee today students with special needs, specifically the hearing impaired, had their turn in the Annual Finger Bee. It's just like a regular spelling bee but instead of spelling the words with sound, they sign. Here is how it went.
Rafael Martinez, Host
"The winner for the National Crystal Spelling Bee is none other than Mr. Vaughn Enriquez."
And with that announcement it was official - 13-year-old Stella Maris School student Vaughn Enriquez won the 2005 Finger Spelling Bee. Enriquez dominated all 4 rounds of the competition, missing only word. His proud mother Patricia Enriquez did the speaking for her son, telling us he worked for his victory.
Patricia Enriquez, Vaughn's Mother
"I feel very happy and I am very proud of him because he studies a lot, when he goes home on the weekends he studies a lot. He has been preparing for about a couple weeks now. Every time he goes home he takes home a paper and a CD and then he goes and study and then I take him up with some of the words that I know. I've learnt a lot lf sign language and that's the way we communicate with him at home."
Keith Swift,
Can you ask him, and I guess he can read my lips, how does he feel to have won?
Patricia Enriquez,
[Vaughn Signaling to his mother] "He says he feels very good, he feels very happy."
Jules Vasquez,
What does he want to be when he grows up?
Patricia Enriquez,
"He said he'd like to be teacher."
Keith Swift,
So what's he going to do with his new 21 inch TV and DVD player?
Patricia Enriquez,
"He said he will take it home and then he'll have it in his room."
The winner in the lower division was Olive Martinez from Orange Walk. She also took home a TV and DVD player. But the icing on the cake for her victory came after.
Keith Swift,
Can you ask your daughter, how do you feel to have won the Junior Finger Bee?
Olive Martinez, Olive's Mother
[Olive Signaling and her mom speaking] "I won and I am very happy about it. My mother, my sister, my brother...I am happy that I will be on T.V. and that I won."
And beyond the prizes, Erlette Thomas, who is an itinerant resource teacher for the deaf says these young participants left with something much more important.
Erlette Thomas, Itinerant Resource Teacher
"It is very important so that children can build their self-esteem and it gives us an opportunity to help them to develop their vocabulary, to write better, to read better, and to understand better."
Both winners won TV and DVDs courtesy Crystal Water.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift
