The Gleaner's Children's Own Spelling Bee champion, Shari-Jo Miller, of Bishop Gibson High School, got her preparation for next month's Scripps National showdown into gear with a five-day workshop at Breezes Runaway Bay Resort.

Heading the battery of trainers are national coach, the Reverend Glen Archer, and her personal coach, Primrose Swaby. Other reinforcements for the brainy belle are Dr Clive Lai, a researcher; consultants Ruth Wilson and Captain Ricardo Jackson; Shari-Jo's dad Stephen Miller; Lawre Johnson, first runner-up in the 2007 Spelling Bee; and Cornel Grey, 2004 champion, along with his parents Cecil and Eulette Grey.

The team grilled Shari-Jo in a rigorous schedule from April 11-16, sometimes running the sessions from 8:30 in the morning to 11 at night, breaking only for meals.

Archer, who created history when he coached Jody-Ann Maxwell to championship honours in the Scripps Bee in 1998, said Shari-Jo is a very serious and organised speller who is on a mission to do her best for Jamaica in Washington on May 24.

Shari-Jo, he added, cooperates well with the training team. She is expected to undergo another training session prior to her departure to Washington.

The entire team remains quite optimistic that Shari-Jo will perform creditably.