Lacumba and the Bee

Members of My Sisters Keeper and the Men’s Federation teamed together to put on Southern University and A&M College’s first Spelling Bee. Hosted in the university’s Event Center, this posed as a fun and competitive way for students to not only be involved but be exposed to what these two organizations are all about.
Entering the event, students were met with smiling faces and great hospitality; from the contestants, all the way to the hosts of the event. The crowd seemed to be very engaged and entertained watching as the top three contestants had a competitive battle in the last round. This spelling bee was one with many twists. If they spelled a word wrong, contestants were able to reenter the competition by playing games such as shadowboxing and rock paper scissors. In the end, a winner was declared by the name of Carlesha Taylor.
The organizations awarded all participants certificates, and the top three winners received a token sponsored by the organizations. Jon’Nease Copening, a freshman majoring in Psychology, and a participant who came close to being in the final round, had this to say about her experience: “The experience was cool. It seemed a little unorganized, but it was my first, so I have nothing to compare it to. I enjoyed it, and the contestants were sweet. I’d do it again for sure.”
The atmosphere of this event was set by none other than those who put it together. There were intermissions full of line-dancing and various concessions which made the experience more interactive overall. Alton Holloway Jr., a junior majoring in Computer Science and the Vice President of Men’s Federation stated, “It was a unique thing to witness. I felt like I was in Lacumba and the Bee. Getting that opportunity to see my peers compete in an event aimed at academics inspired me to create more opportunities like this where people can showcase their skills. That’s the goal.” The members of My Sisters Keeper and the Men’s Federation put in an amazing amount of effort to make everyone feel included and supported, according to their officials.
Justice Clark, a senior majoring in Nursing, had this to say about the event: “My Sisters Keeper has multiple committees and one of those committees is the education committee. The committee head for that is Blaire. I didn’t come up with the idea, but I approved and supported the idea because of how different it was. It, for one, had never been done by any other organization on Southern University’s campus, but it was also a good way to celebrate people for their scholarship and even educate people on new words that might enhance their vocabulary.”
“My hope is that we continue to do this program annually and that it gets bigger and better every year,” stated Clark. This mindset was seen in the planning of the first-ever Spelling Bee hosted at Southern University. Through crowd interaction and fierce competition, this event was shaped into something that the student body would love to see more of.