Mr. Speaker, last month Finola Hackett, a determined young lady from my riding of Vegreville—Wainwright, won the first ever CanWest CanSpell National Spelling Bee, a contest that began in January with more than 80,000 students.
As well as being the first to have her name carved into the CanSpell cup, Finola walked away with a $10,000 scholarship and a spot in the prestigious 78th annual Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. This was a tremendous accomplishment.
Millions of children worldwide participated in the local spelling bees in hopes of reaching the level that only Finola and 273 spelling champions were able to achieve.
Then Finola, at the age of 13 years, showed great poise and knowledge last Thursday and made all of Canada proud by placing 11th overall in Washington.
I am very proud of Finola, her parents, her teachers and all who helped shape her success.
I say way to go to Finola. She has done Tofield, Alberta and Canada proud.