An eighth-grader from Bright Horizon Academy will be going to Washington, D.C., to represent San Diego County in the national spelling bee this May.
Duaa Ouznali competed for over five hours at the San Diego County Scripps Regional Spelling Bee on Thursday before winning with the word “droshky,” defined by Merriam-Webster as “any of various 2- or 4-wheeled carriages used especially in Russia.”
The event, which included more than 90 competitors from sixth to eighth grade, brought together students from public and independent schools countywide at the Jackie Robinson Family YMCA in San Diego.
After the event, Ouznali said she had made a habit of studying for around 15 to 20 minutes per day for a month.
Her cited strategy? “I learn things by listening — so like, probably by listening to the words a lot,” she said.
Ouznali won in the 27th round, the same number she had been assigned in the competition.
But the winning word wasn’t one she had studied. “That one wasn’t in the list,” she said.
Vann Torio from the O’Farrell Charter School was the runner-up. He will compete in Washington if Ouznali is unavailable; it’s the national spelling bee’s 100th anniversary.
Before Ouznali won the competition, she and Torio gave each other some fierce competition. By round 13, the two were the only remaining competitors — and they went back-and-forth for the rest of the competition. In the latter half, both candidates made it to the final challenge spelling question.
Also in attendance Thursday was Snigdha Nandipati, the national winner from 2012 and a graduate of Francis Parker School. Nandipati, now a fourth-year medical student at Virginia Tech, said she was there for a family friend.
“They started with some really difficult words this year,” she said after the first round. “I don’t think I would have made it past Round One, to be honest.”
Meadowbrook Middle School student Anurag Kashyap also won the national spelling bee in 2005.
