The Suffolk Education Foundation is seeking more teams and sponsors for its upcoming spelling bee this February.

The fourth annual Grown-Up Spelling Bee will be held on Feb. 29 at King’s Fork High School. Teams of three adults will work together to spell words and compete for the coveted “Best Spellers in Suffolk” title.

The Suffolk Education Foundation’s mission is to support Suffolk Public Schools by connecting the community’s talents and resources, in order to expand educational opportunities for students and staff.

The Foundation was founded in 1993. The Foundation Board has actively developed a variety of different fundraisers, such as the spelling bee.

According to Bradshaw, these fundraisers have supported the following foundation contributions to students and staff in the City of Suffolk.

• Scholarships: The Foundation has provided more than $375,000 in scholarships and tuition assistance to help students continue their studies after high school, and will award $23,000 in scholarships to the Class of 2020.
• Instructional Grants: The Foundation has awarded more than $350,000 in grants for classroom projects. It provided $15,000 to finance teachers’ innovative projects for the 2019-2020 school year, and will do so once again in the coming school year.
• STEM and Fine Arts: The Foundation has provided nearly $50,000 for the expansion of science, technology, engineering and math programs, including the Biomedical Sciences program. Furthermore, the Foundation’s annual Gala to Support the Arts highlights the talents of student artists and musicians, with proceeds going to the music and art programs.
• Sponsorships: The Foundation helps to fund the following Suffolk Public Schools events annually: College & Career Readiness Fair, Teacher of the Year and Superintendent’s Star Award programs, and the highly successful elementary summer program (LEAP) and expanded middle school summer program (LAUNCH). It also helped to fund the Sea, Air & Land (SeAL) student engineering challenge in May.

All money raised is appropriated to the students and staff of Suffolk Public Schools. For every dollar raised, according to Bradshaw, the Foundation returns 94 cents to the schools.

“Our hard work ensures that students and staff have the ability to receive college scholarships and instructional grants each year, in addition to reaping the benefits of special projects,” she wrote.

The Grown-Up Spelling Bee competition on Feb. 29 will begin at 2 p.m. at King’s Fork High School, 351 Kings Fork Road.

Teams and organizations must register by Monday, and rosters and team names must be finalized by Feb. 17. Corporate sponsors may present their own team or fund a team of Suffolk Public Schools employees, and sponsors are encouraged to register by Feb. 17.

A pre-event luncheon for teams will be held to review competition rules and meet corporate sponsors.

Visit suffolkeducationfoundation.org to register or sponsor a team, buy tickets and learn more about the competition, as well as the various Suffolk Education Foundation sponsorship opportunities.