The 8th Annual Spelling Bee for Grownups fundraiser on June 2 was CYD’s largest yet, and a delightful and exciting evening! Among the guests were CYD Board Members, NextGen Leaders, alumni, principals and teachers from our partner schools, and many friends and community members. We are grateful to all of our sponsors and supporters including Galaxy, Gunderson Dettmer, Goldman Sachs, Guardian, Standard Industries, and Women X Meta.
Bee Master Harry Smith, who has five decades of experience in broadcast journalism, led the student spelling bee championship and the adult spelling bee alongside emcee Vince Chang. Executive Director Michael Roberts and Board Chair SoVonna Day-Goins talked about how CYD’s transformative work prepares young people to succeed in college and careers. Dan Lebzabre, a Manhattan Comprehensive alumnus, gave an inspiring speech about his journey as a new immigrant and how CYD helped him to explore postsecondary opportunities. He also spoke of his current role as a tutor for CYD’s newest immigrant students, and his goal of going to law school. As Dan said, “If there’s one thing I hope you take away from tonight, it’s this: your support is real, and can be seen through me and many others like me.”
In the student bee, Claire Wu, Crystal Kim and Trinity Burke-Joseph played off in an impressive display of knowledge before Trinity was awarded the first-place trophy. The adult teams were also stellar this year, correctly spelling words such as “vainglorious” and “linnet.” The Goldman Sachs team Assets and Lia-bee-lities (including Board Member Ramey Watkins) took top honors, followed by the Bees (including Board Member Tyler Duff), and in third place Team B Plus.
CYD is deeply grateful to our sponsors, Board members, NextGen leaders, school partners, and community for their critical support of our work.
View photos from the Bee >>
Congratulations to the Adult Bee Winners!
First Place: Assets and Lia-bee-lities
Second Place: Bees
Third Place: Team B+
And the Student Bee Champions!
Left to right: Claire, Crystal, Trinity, and ED Michael Roberts
First Place: Trinity (City-As-School)
Second Place: Crystal (HPHS)
Third Place: Claire (City-As-School)
Thank You to our Bee sponsors who made it all possible!
Queen Bee Sponsor
