Justinne Mavvis Suyo of the Social Sciences (SS) Dragons outlasted 8 other teams from different divisions on her way to clinch the win in the recently concluded 3rd Utakan Spelling Bee event of the Festival of Excellence held last Feb 22, 2017 at room J301 of Ateneo de Davao University.

Suyo was regarded as an underdog as her partner Joanna Peligro was unable to participate due to a conflict of schedule. To add to the challenge, new rules were introduced this year, as the words now have to be spelled orally compared to writing them in the previous years.

Suyo herself did not expect to win as she was the lone representative from her division.

“I feel very lucky and fortunate. It was an unexpected win, to be honest. It was only the day before the event that I found out my partner would not be able to make it,” the second year AB Sociology student said.

Social Sciences representative Robert Zamora was very supportive during the competition and was expectedly elated with the Dragons’ 1st place finish.

“Sobrang happy and proud ako kay Mavvis despite of the fact na hindi nakapunta ang kasama niya and of course this is the first time na nagchampion ang SS sa spelling bee. Sugod! Laban, Social Sciences!” Zamora said

The new rules and unfamiliar guidelines caused some difficulties as the Spelling Master and judges acclimated themselves with the new format.

SAMAHAN Secretary-General Dexter Villarosa saw the event as a success and that the new set of rules made the competition more exciting as the crowd was visibly more engaged.

“I believe that for a first time format, the event was a success and certainly more thrilling. There were glitches but I think that we can correct them in the next competitions,” Villarosa added.

The School of Education (SOE) and Business & Management (B&M) garnered second and third place respectively.