PLANO, Texas — One day after returning home from a long week at the Scripps National Spelling Bee, Faizan Zaki is back to his normal summer routine. That routine entails studying for eight hours and learning 3,000 to 4,000 English words in preparation for the next spelling competition.
"The summer is the most crucial time to study," said Faizan.
Faizan is a 6th grader from Rice Middle School in Plano ISD. Just last week the Allen 12-year-old placed second place in the National Spelling Bee, losing in the lightning round spell-off to eventual champion Bruhat Soma of Tampa Bay. Faizan represented from the Dallas Regionals, which is widely known as the one of toughest regions.
"I knew he would get into Top 5 at least. After that, it's anybody's game," said his father Zaki Anwar.
Last week Faizan passed through the gauntlet of 14 rounds. 245 contestants, and into a spell-off with the eventual champion.
"Only during the first couple rounds I was nervous," Faizan said.
Second place in the national competition is an incredible achievement when you consider hundreds of thousands of students compete every year just to represent their respective regions. Mastering spelling is not just about memorizing; it's about language, it's about roots, and it's also some luck.
"The main thing about the spelling bee is learning how to work hard and stay passionate about something," Faizan said.
Faizan has gone three times to nationals. He's placed every time, going from 370th, to 21st place, to 2nd place. He's got two years of eligibility left and plans on making full use of that time to get even better. He uses an online tool to help him get through words quicker.
Faizan tells us there are 470,000 words in the English language according to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary but there are only about 125,000 words you really need to focus on. He says there are about 25,000 words that cannot be deciphered using clues and you simply have to 'memorize them cold.'
"It's like an unfinished job for him. He wants to go back and do it," his father said.