On 14 March, Grade 7 student at Hangzhou International School, Katherine Niu, battled for four hours to claim victory as the China Spelling Bee Champion. The Third Annual China Regional Spelling Bee consisted of 33 participants who were winners at their respective schools in Beijing, Hangzhou, Shanghai and Suzhou. Katherine, who took home the trophy after correctly spelling ‘splenetic’, is preparing to represent HIS at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington DC from 1 – 2 June.

In the lead up to the big day, Katherine is practicing diligently one to two hours a day. She keeps her strategy straightforward with a regimen including an intensive study of words and their roots. The focused training is the key to her success, and Katherine notes how well it already paid off, acknowledging that all her preparation for the regional bee “was hard, but when I won, it felt great!”

The Scripps National Spelling Bee is a televised showdown between over 270 of the world’s best spellers. The stakes are high, but Katherine manages to maintain her concentration during competition. Cool as can be, she doesn’t even have any tricks up her sleeve for battling nerves. “I don’t do anything special. I just sit and wait for my turn,” she says.

Originally from New Jersey, Katherine is thrilled to return to her home country for the finals. She has not been to the States since her family moved to Hangzhou in 2009, but the 7th grader admitted, ''I am most excited about the chance to be on TV.''

In the future, Katherine dreams of putting her creativity and knack for words to use as either an artist or author. Regardless of the outcome in DC, Katherine plans to continue to compete in future spelling bees. Her advice for aspiring spellers is: “Start studying early and don’t think that you have a lot of time because you really don’t.” Well put by a reigning champion.