ST. JOSEPH, Mich. — A West Michigan teen is in Maryland this week to compete against hundreds of other spellers in the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Among 234 other spellers from around the world competing in the spelling bee is St. Joseph middle school student Pihu Sahai.
This is her first time competing on the national stage.
"My winning word was inquest. It is ‘I-N-Q-U-E-S-T’," said Sahai.
'Inquest' continuing Pihu's quest to be the best speller in the world.
"I knew that ‘Okay, now I am going to nationals,' but it was still surreal, and it was very nice to hear that ‘Yes, you are going to go’," said Sahai.
Pibu says she has been competing in spelling bees since the first grade.
"Up until around fifth or sixth grade, I didn’t really study, I didn’t study with the intensity that I study now," said Sahai.
She started observing how other spellers study, focusing on the root words.
"What I like to do is I like to basically just learn the definition of the language of origin. It's, it's not easy to like remember all of that, but it definitely helps when you learn the definitions as well, and maybe just learn something about the word that maybe sticks out to you that way, it'll help you remember it better," said Sahai.
"Pihu’s perseverance, she studied through summer vacations, and I am actually very happy that she has the perseverance to stick with one thing for such a long time," said Pihu's mother, Namrata Mathur.
This year marks her sixth in the Scripps Spelling Bee Competition and the first time she has qualified for the national spelling bee.
She studied from a list of 4,000 words to prepare, and while she wants to win, she said she knows it's just a big accomplishment just to make it there.
"My first goal is to get past the first three rounds, but apart from that, I think that was kind of like a base goal, like a minimum of where I want to be," said Sahai.
This is the last year Pihu can participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee due to age limits.
The first rounds begin Tuesday, May 31 with the final competition day on Thursday, June 2.
