By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL

Freeport News Reporter

krystal@nasguard.com

The Church of the Ascension is gearing up to host its fourth annual Spelling Chal-lenge next month and has welcomed the Sunset Service Club as a partner and sponsor.

The Challenge will take place Sunday, April 25 at the church's Eric Sam Auditor-ium and is open to students ages eight to 12.

The participants will compete for the top prize of a laptop computer, while the second, third and fourth place winners will receive an iPod, portable DVD player, and MP4 player respectively.

Committee Chairman K. Brian Hanna explained that the event, which is organized by the church's youth group, Momentum, has grown over the last three years.

The first year it was held, there were only 28 participants. By last year, however, that number had in-creased to 76 participants.

The committee is currently accepting applications for this year's Challenge and based on the number of interested students, may even consider holding a preliminary competition to whittle down the competitors.

This year's District Spelling Bee winner Thazunique Charlton of Hugh Campbell Primary School is expected to participate in the Challenge.

Last year's Spelling Challenge winner was Grand Bahama Catholic High School student, Amy Antony.

The church's leader Father Ian Claridge, pointed out that the Spelling Challenge was conceived to expose young people in the parish and their peers to the world of literacy.

"This world enables people to expand their horizons and world view. This is part of the general education and self development that are vital for us as a people in The Bahamas, because the more educated we are the more productive a society we will have and the better off the next generation are," he noted.

The Sunset Service Club will now join longtime spon-sors H&L School Supplies and Bookstore and Bethel Books and Stationers in contributing to the program.

Club President Donald Ward noted that the challenge has been adopted as one of its first projects. The club will sponsor the T-shirts that will be provided for the participants.

"Our Service Club is very big on literacy and we are proponents of this type of event, so it is not difficult for us to step in and begin participating immediately," he said.

"We plan to participate throughout the entire life of the program."

Applications for the Spelling Challenge can be picked up at the Corp-Law office on Cedar Street. The deadline for submission is April 6.