The Tribune

QUEEN’S College student Prachi Kondapuram will be taking on 280 international champions when she participates in the 87th Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, DC today.

The 11-year-old seventh grade student qualified for the event after winning the 17th annual Bahamas National Spelling Bee in March.

Prachi left the country on Sunday to head to the event.

Sylvia Beneby, QC’s vice-principal and head of the primary school division, said Prachi has been training hard for months in preparation for the competition.

“Needless to say as a school we are extremely proud of the accomplishments she has made thus far,” Ms Beneby said. “She has worked tirelessly from third grade on spelling.”

Prachi entered the national spelling bee for the first time last year as a sixth grade student, Ms Beneby said. In preparation for the international event, she spends two to three hours each night practising her spelling on top of her school homework.

Ms Beneby is confident that although battling nerves, Prachi will do well at the competition.

“She was kind of nervous her first time out but this year she was so composed and was a natural. She worked through her nervousness and that propelled her to achieve the accomplishments (she has),” the school official said.

“She is nervous but she knows that if she practices all of the skills that she has learnt that she can do it. I think she will make the country very proud because she has put in the time.”

Prachi’s coaches worked with her over the weekend until she left for the competition on Sunday. In addition to preparing for the event, Prachi is also studying for school exams and working on homework while she is away.

“I am pleased with her effort and she is very self motivated,” Ms Beneby said.

Prachi is speller no8 out of the 281 competing for this year’s coveted title. She is one of the youngest competitors in the event.

Preliminary rounds will begin today and the semi-finals and the finals are set for tomorrow.

This year’s spellers are from the 50 US states, American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands and Department of Defence Schools in Europe, the Bahamas, Canada, China, Ghana, Jamaica, Japan and South Korea. The spellers range in age from 8 to 15, with the youngest being eight-year-old Hussain Godhrawala of Barnwell, South Carolina.

More than 86 per cent are between the ages of 12 and 14.

According to her profile on the Scripps National Spelling Bee website, Prachi is a student of music theory and an avid keyboard player.

“She expresses her artistic side by writing stories and poetry and drawing mangas. While she is in Washington, DC., it will be impossible for her to choose between visiting the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, Korean War Veterans Memorial, and National World War II Memorial because each one represents the valiant citizens who fought bravely at the behest of their country – so she will just have to go to all three.

“She would eat cheese pizza and chocolate all the time if she could, but she is also prone to random food cravings for everything from strawberry shortcake to tofu. Every day she tries to embody the philosophies of non-violence and forgiveness, virtues she learned from her role model Nelson Mandela,” her profile says.

Her entry into the international competition marks the first time QC has had a student in the event.