Kerala girl spells her way to success at MaRRS International Spelling Bee Competition

Marwa Sajjad, a student of the Christ Nagar International, is the second runner-up in the international finals of MaRRS International Spelling Bee Competition
The Spell Bee competition is not just about spellings. It encourages systematic understanding of the language as well
The Spell Bee competition is not just about spellings. It encourages systematic understanding of the language as well

Learning the spellings of certain words may not be a task everybody enjoys, but city girl Marwa Sajjad, a student of the Christ Nagar International, thinks of it as an art.

A master in spelling out some of the most difficult words, Marwa recently became the second runner-up in the international finals of Spelling Bee Competition conducted by MaRRS International, wherein more than 300 students from all over India and the Middle East participated. She came first in the inter-school and the state-level after which she gained entry into the international finals.

The Spell Bee competition is not just about spellings. It encourages systematic understanding of the language as well. For Marwa, the foundation was laid quite early itself.

"I showed interest in it from the 1st grade itself. My parents used to buy me books every time and I was able to learn new words. This time, I prepared for the competition by reading from Oxford dictionary. This helped me qualify for the international finals and then win a prize in it.”

There are different levels that need to be cleared to reach the finals. The competition starts at the school level and progresses to the national level through the inter-school and state-level competitions.

The first level is written followed by an oral round. Besides, there is a phonetics round where the words are shown in phonetic transcriptions and the contestant has to guess it.

This 10-year-old has secured 4th rank in internationals and 5th rank in nationals in 2017. In 2016, she secured 7th rank in the international finals. Her academic excellence is also evident from her winning zonal excellence medals in English, Science, Mathematics and Cyber Olympiads in all grades. She had also achieved international first rank in English Olympiad while studying in second grade. She also topped in NSTSC exam in the state.

Her excellence is not limited to academics but also in arts. Marwa was adjudged overall champion in school arts festival for consecutively three years participating in public speaking, recitation, drawing, singing. She has also won prizes in story-telling and painting competitions conducted by different organisations.

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