Rafael Marsh loves discovering new words and then learning how to spell them.
The Condobolin Public School Year Six student took part in the final of the NSW Premier’s Spelling Bee at the ABC Ultimo Centre in Sydney recently.
He travelled to event with his parents, and felt more relaxed on stage than last year, which was his first foray into the state final.
While he didn’t win, he felt that it was all about “having a crack” and being proud of doing your best.
Rafael epitomised the strong, smart, and proud motto of Condobolin Public School during the event.
The Spelling Bee featured 60 students from 56 schools, with those 60 top spellers cut down from a pool of 1,720 students in a series of regional finals held remotely. The finalists in the senior category, tackled words like “exonerate” and “duodenum”, before going head-to-head with words including “delicatessen”, “bourgeoisie” and “propinquity”.
Trilok Shenoy from Wentworthville’s Darcy Road Public School took the title ahead of Epping Public School’s Aditya Paul. In the deciding round, Trilok successfully spelled “croquembouche”, while Aditya failed to annunciate “plenipotentiary”.
Maya Thiruchelvam, from Hamilton South Public School in Newcastle, won the junior category. She correctly spelled “tortellini”, to win the title. That group faced words like “ambidextrous”, “gargantuan” and “amalgamate”.