Nine-year old Sydney E. Spence of Miami could be on her way to the Scripps National Spelling Bee championships in Washington DC in May.
Recently Sydney who is the 2018 Primary Spelling Bee, first place winner, qualified to compete at the 78th Miami Herald Spelling Bee to be held on Tuesday, March 6, at Jungle Island in Miami Florida. The winners of the local will have the opportunity to participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
No ordinary student
No ordinary student, Sydney is a self-motivated and creative 4th grader who attends Airbase K-8 Center for International Education in Homestead, South Miami-Dade. She beat out an 11-year old 5th grader to secure her place to compete at the Miami Herald Spelling Bee.
Sydney who is an accelerated reader champion at her school, said she is not only excited about competing in the March 6 Spelling Bee, but is confident of winning and advancing to the prestigious Scripps National championship.
Some of the words in the contest that she successfully spelled were: Disguise, taxidermy, tribulations, Hispaniola, vociferous, entrepreneurs, anecdote, etc. The winning word she had to spell was Boroughs.
Active all rounder
Even at her relatively young age, Sydney is a very active all- rounder, capably balancing her academic and extra-curricular activities.
She is a member of the top gun tumbling, aquatics swim team, and school’s sewing club, and has been taking piano lessons for the last five years.
She attended the summer institute for the gifted last summer at Emory University in Atlanta Georgia last year, and in the summer of 2016 participated in a similar program for gifted children at the University of Miami. There she made a robotic stimulation, magnetic slime, took Algebra and Statistics courses. In 2016 she also had a chance to dissect at the University of Miami’s Brain fair.
Like any other young lady her age Sydney enjoys watching TV. Bur her favorite TV shows are science and history shows like Expedition Unknown and the Good Doctor.
She said she likes to have fun “Making slime concoctions, baking, reading and solving word-search puzzles. I also have a Youtube Channel on which I showcase my new toys.”
Future chemical engineer
Looking far into the future, Sydney said would like to become a chemical engineer and attend Oxford University in London.
“I am excited to be participating in the Spelling Bee because I get to learn a whole bunch of new words. I also get to compete with different students from different schools. I’m also excited because now I represent my school, Air Base K-8 and I was able to beat a fifth grader for the spelling championship title. I’m looking forward to the Miami Herald Spelling Bee because I know I am going to win,” Sydney said.
