Mary Cuffy

Over the past few years, young minds across Trinidad and To­ba­go have been qui­et­ly ris­ing to a big chal­lenge—one that in­volves words, num­bers, and a lot of de­ter­mi­na­tion.

It all start­ed with a dream: to bring stu­dents to­geth­er through com­pe­ti­tions that test not just knowl­edge, but courage, fo­cus, and heart. Since 2022, chil­dren from dif­fer­ent schools have tak­en part in the Na­tion­al Spelling and Vo­cab­u­lary Chal­lenge and the New Wave Math Cham­pi­onships.

These spe­cial ac­tiv­i­ties are part of the work done by PAM­STAR PRO­MO­TIONS, a group that cre­ates learn­ing op­por­tu­ni­ties through friend­ly com­pe­ti­tion.

This May, the ex­cite­ment re­turned, and 69 of the 107 reg­is­tered stu­dents showed up, ready to take on tricky spelling words and fast-paced math prob­lems.

Many had spent months prepar­ing, bal­anc­ing school­work with ex­tra prac­tice and study time. Some even shared how they gave up screen time or out­ings just to fo­cus—not be­cause any­one forced them to, but be­cause they want­ed to do their very best.

Par­ents and teach­ers cheered them on, of­fer­ing con­stant sup­port. One stu­dent ex­plained that the most help­ful tool for the vo­cab­u­lary part of the chal­lenge was the Cote Ci Cote La dic­tio­nary. With it, they not on­ly learnt the mean­ings of words from T&T's di­alect but al­so dis­cov­ered more about their own cul­ture.

In the end, Mi­ra Per­saud, Kait­lyn Kur­banali, and Syann Keens Du­mas stood out with their im­pres­sive scores. But every­one who joined earned some­thing: con­fi­dence, ex­pe­ri­ence, and pride in what they ac­com­plished. The top nine qual­i­fiers re­ceived medals, cer­tifi­cates, and vouch­ers. And for those who went the ex­tra mile, shiny tro­phies and oth­er sur­pris­es were wait­ing.

Thanks to ef­forts like these, young peo­ple are learn­ing that hard work, cu­rios­i­ty, and a love for learn­ing can take them far. And that’s some­thing to cel­e­brate.

Mary Cuffy is an ed­u­ca­tor and lo­cal chil­dren’s au­thor. Ms Cuffy is the au­thor of the La­dy­bug book se­ries. Ms Cuffy be­lieves the best in­vest­ment we can make in chil­dren is in the ear­ly years. Email: mary.cuffy@ya­hoo.com • IG: marycuffy • FB: mary cuffy/Lo­la and the Danc­ing La­dy­bug