Following weeks of spelling a broad selection of fascinating words, a 15-year-old student of Starville School, Abuja, Snow George has emerged winner of the 2020 MTN mPulse Spelling Bee.
The competition, which commenced in October 2020, featured over 16,000 students aged 9-15 across the country.
In the final round of the keenly contested finale recently, George beat Ansel Ifelaja of MasterHill College with the correct spelling of the word ‘Doraphobia.’ She received a N2 million scholarship, a laptop, smartphone and mPulse goody bag.
“I am thankful to God, my teachers and parents for coaching me through this building process. It was challenging as I had to learn new words daily. I am truly grateful to MTN for providing me with the platform to showcase something I enjoy,” she said.
Ifelaja the first-runner up was awarded a N1 million scholarship, a smartphone and goody bag, while the second runner-up, Elvis Ekwelem of Graceland International School, Port Harcourt was presented with a N750,000 scholarship, a smartphone and goody bag.
In addition, Starville School got laptops and routers, and was provided with internet access for 90 days; teachers of the top three contestants were awarded cash prizes; and all other 17 participants in the grand finale went home with cash and other prizes.
The prizes were awarded during the Spelling Bee finale by the acting Chief Marketing Officer, MTN Nigeria, Anthony Obi, who expressed satisfaction with the dedication and capabilities demonstrated by the young wordsmiths, and reaffirmed MTN’s commitment to youth empowerment, saying, “we are thrilled by the level of competition in our first-ever virtual spelling bee; and extend our hearty congratulations to the winners, and thanks to everyone who participated in this event.
“Through the mPulse proposition, our goal is to enable a world of possibilities in the most innovative ways for the young ones in our country.”
The mPulse Spelling Bee is one of many initiatives planned by MTN for young students across Nigeria. Spelling bees encourage language comprehension and help students build their vocabulary, while developing study techniques and self-confidence through friendly competition.
MTN mPulse is designed to enable teens and tweens learn and excel in academic pursuit, skills acquisition and develop ground-breaking innovations while being entertained.
The mPulse website has over 30 free and paid learning resources, latest national and global competitions for primary and secondary school students, over 1,000 free self-development videos and quality educational content.
Primary and secondary school students in Nigeria can get free 15GB monthly (500MB daily) from MTN to continue their education online. Tutorial lessons (in text and video) on all primary and secondary school subjects are available for access with the free daily 500MB across various e-learning sites, as well as over 10 years of past questions on Common Entrance, JSCE, JAMB, WAEC and NECO for students in exam classes to prepare with using the free data from MTN.
