Skaggs elementary school student Faizan Zaki won a spelling bee contest held at Booker T. Washington High School in Dallas.
Zaki, a fifth-grade student, competed against 26 students and spelled every single word perfectly, winning a co-championship at the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee.
He earned an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington D.C. and is going to compete in the National Scripps Spelling Bee as a representative of Skaggs and Plano ISD from May 30.
“I love the experience of participating in spelling bees,” Zaki tells Local Profile.
Zaki began participating in spelling bees in first grade but says he only became “decent” in the past two years. (He is way more than decent! He’s great!) But even for spelling bee champ, some words are hard. He says that the homophones peccadillo, picadillo, piccalilli, picuda, picadillo, picudo, pickadil, and piccadilly trip him up — him and everyone else on Earth.
But of all the words, “D’Entrecasteaux” is his favorite. For those wondering the meaning of the word, it is the name of a French Explorer from the 18th Century.
Zaki is in the Plano Academic and Creative Education Program and a member of Math Rocks Program. He also likes to study social studies and science, but still he says he prefers studying language.
“It's also just fun to learn new words,” he says. “The best part about it is that you get to make friends with your fellow spellers!”
Zaki is also interested in competing in other than the spelling bee. He and his friends are into Rubik's cube recently and might join the competition.
His dream? “To win the Scripps National Spelling bee,” he says.
