Nine-year-old Navya Gupta is no stranger to winning - a four time rank holder in the MaRRS International Spelling Bee Competition, Navya has been securing top scores since her Lower KG. This year, she bagged the fifth place in Category II of the competition held in Kerala, seeing participants from over 100 schools across India, Kuwait, and the Middle East.
The third grader, a student of Greenwood High, Bengaluru, has been a keen reader despite her young age. "The school has definitely inculcated the interest in reading for at least 10 minutes every day," Navya's mother, Nita Mital, says. "She makes a log of the new words she comes across, learns the meaning, gets them approved by her teachers, and they find their way back to the house as small posters stuck on the fridge," she adds. This helps her retain and understand the word better
MaRRS International Spelling Bee Competition held in Asia for school children is considered as a self-motivated learning programme as it helps students to improve their communication skills and confidence by enriching their vocabulary. The various round of the contest assesses their spellings, pronunciation and vocabulary skills.
But Navya is not only a spelling bee champion but also a person with multiple interests. A student of Indian Classical Dance, Kathak, she also enjoys drawing, painting and playing the guitar in her spare time.
Asking her mother if the family is happy to see their child ace the championship yet again, Nita Mital says, "The ranks have never really mattered much to Navya. She is definitely happy yes, but her biggest happiness comes from us acknowledging her hard work and being proud of her. And of course, we are!" And what about Navya herself? "It has been a wonderful experience altogether and I am happy to make my parents proud," she says.
