GoodHeart | Andrew Green spells to ‘motivate the men’

Fifty-two years ago, a near-fatal car accident squashed Andrew Green’s hope of representing his school in The Gleaner’s Children’s Own Spelling Bee Competition. But, as the saying goes, delayed is not denied. Last Thursday, a triumphant Green – the parish champion for St Andrew – lifted the second-place trophy at the national finals of the Senior Spelling Bee Competition at The Jamaica Pegasus hotel in New Kingston.

“I was the top speller and was supposed to represent my school, Tarrant Primary, all those decades ago ... but things took a different turn. I almost died in a nasty accident, and as a result, I missed that opportunity to be in Spelling Bee … but here I am today,” an exuberant Green shared with GoodHeart.

His journey to this competition started late. It was mere days before the parish finals that a good friend from church and also a member of the Grace Senior Citizens Club encouraged Green to enter.

“I didn’t even have the book. A friend, Garfield Hogarth, loaned me the book ... and he was also one of the competitors. And God was so good that I won. My friend was the second runner-up. It was really a good experience. I am really thanking God that I was able to reach so far with so little exposure. I can tell you ... there are some tough words in that book,” Green declared.

Once he realised that the national finals as the representative for St Andrew was his next stop, Green devised a plan. He sought the support of his family members, mainly his wife and his son, who would drill him when he got home in the evenings, and he even reached out to the 2025 winner for some tips.

“Last year’s champion, Mrs Beverley Bean, gave me some tips, and she even took some hours out of her curfew time to quiz me ... and I really appreciate that. I spoke to other person[s] who had experience, and they showed me the ropes. I would record the words on my phone and play them back.”

For Green, his motivation for entering the competition went far beyond the thrill of winning, or even the prizes. He shared that he didn’t even know what the prizes were. He did it for the boys and the men who need to see and embrace the fact that they can effectively lead.

“I attend the Waltham Park New Testament Church of God, and we have the Grace Senior Citizens Club, and I would have been one of the few males who decided that we want to tek on the thing. I hate to see the men lag behind. And in this society ... in the church ... many times we see the women taking the fore and the men lagging behind,” explained Green, who has been a Junior Schools’ Challenge Quiz tutor for many years.

“So, we said that we want to make a paradigm shift in the whole thing. We wanted to go up there and show that men can represent. So that was the main motivation … do well so that the men can be motivated also to come onboard,” Green added.

Also, on a personal level, it was a wonderful feeling to just prove to himself that at his age, being a senior citizen, he could still perform mentally at the highest level. “My family, my Men’s Ministry, my church pastor, the congregation ... they were all watching ... most of them online, and cheering me on. This is a wonderful feeling ... it is something to celebrate,” Green told GoodHeart.

The annual National Senior Spelling Bee Competition is a signature event for Senior Citizens’ Month in September. Veronica Richards Whittaker of St Mary and Jacqueline Mullings of Manchester took home first and third place, respectively.

Organised by the National Council for Senior Citizens (NCSC), an agency under the Ministry of Labour and Social Security, the contest brings together parish champions aged 60 and older from across the island to highlight lifelong learning, mental stimulation, and active ageing. This year’s month-long observance also marks the 50th anniversary of the NCSC under the theme, ‘Honouring a Golden Legacy: Shaping a Bold Future’.

yasmine.peru@gleanerjm.com