LOCAL student Rudy Ferrer is a whiz kid.
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The 10-year-old Forster Public School student is one of three children from the Mid North Coast region to make it through to the state finals of the Premier’s Spelling Bee.
Hosted by Old Bar Public School on September 19, Rudy was up against some tough competition in the regional finals, but managed to spell the word reincarnated correctly to win the title.
After being knocked out last year, Rudy survived six rounds last month to receive the win which he says was a surprise as he hadn’t prepared much at all.
“It was hard but I was actually quite amazed because I only practised once leading up to the competition,” he said.
“I didn’t want to practise too much because it just made me more nervous.”
But it appears to be a different story for the upcoming state finals as Rudy says he is now training religiously with the support from his parents.
And while he is looking forward to competing, he admits the lead up is quite nerve-racking.
“I’m practising more and more, my parents give me some questions each night and the words I get wrong or a bit stuck on they’ll highlight and we come back to them later and I just practice them a lot,” he said.
“I’m really excited for the event but a tiny bit nervous.”
Rudy’s favourite part about spelling is the formation of words and knowing how to put them together. “I like knowing the right letters and knowing that they create words,” he said.
“I think it’s actually quite cool because it makes me feel smart at a couple of things.”
But while he enjoys spelling, English isn’t his favourite subject at school.
“I prefer Maths and Science but Maths would be my favourite subject because Maths is thinking and you use it all the time in everything you do.”
The Premier’s Spelling Bee is now in its ninth year and is part of the NSW Government’s strategy to build on literacy results.
A record number of 87 children are set to compete at the state finals in Sydney on Wednesday, November 6 at the ABC Centre in Ultimo.