TRENTON — An all women’s education group will host its inaugural Spelling Bee fundraiser on Thursday, hoping to raise $2,000 in scholarship funds for two Jones County girls planning to study education.
The 36-member Gamma Epsilon chapter — the Jones County representative — of the Delta Kappa Gamma organization has a scholarship fundraiser each year. They’ve previously held auctions and dinners, but Chapter President Janelle Ehnstrom said the buzz about the Spelling Bee is sweeping across Jones County.
“I’ve travelled to all the elementary schools, and you can tell that they’re really into it,” she said.
All six county schools and some county agencies have come together to form 14 committed teams. Ehnstrom said the goal was 15 teams of four people, charging each foursome $100 to participate.
Local businesses are sponsoring a few teams in exchange for advertisement during Thursday’s event at Jones Senior High School’s new gymnasium.
Admission is $5, which will go toward the $2,000 goal.
“Our expectation is to raise money for scholarships but to also make it a community event,” said Ehnstrom, who noted there will be three different winners on Thursday: Most Supported Team, Spirit Award and, of course, the Spelling Bee winner.
There will be three levels of word difficulty, with an option for teams to purchase buy-in words to stay in the game. Some teams have pulled word lists to practice, but no participants have seen any official Spelling Bee words.
“Of course we want Trenton Elementary to win,” said Taffy Jones, first-grade teacher at the school, “but I am doing it … to help the teachers with scholarships in the county.”
Because of Jones’ small size, some years there aren’t two girls who plan on pursuing a degree in education, so the Gamma Epsilon chapter will provide second-year students or teachers looking to further their education with the scholarship.
The Delta Kappa Gamma organization meets five times a year to work on different educational projects. The international-leveled organization is comprised of women who had or have careers in education.
“We want to do (the fundraiser) for the children and to help promote education,” Ehnstrom said. “Right now, education is a really tough field and a lot of people are not going into that profession. We want to recruit and retain teachers.”
Jessika Morgan can be reached at 252-559-1078 or at jessika.morgan@kinston.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jessika Morgan.
BREAKOUT BOX:
Delta Kappa Gamma, Gamma Epsilon Chapter Spelling Bee Fundraiser
6 p.m. Thursday
Jones Senior High School New Gymnasium
1490 HWY 58 S., Trenton
Admission: $5