Praneet Arora of Surrey’s Tamanawis secondary school wins Spelling Bee of Canada National Championship

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PRANEET Singh Arora, 13, a Grade 8 student of Surrey’s Tamanawis Secondary School won the Spelling Bee of Canada National Championship, intermediate level (12-14 years), earlier this month when he correctly spelt “ostracod” and “disreputable.”

Ostracod?

Well, “ostracods, or ostracodes, are a class of the Crustacea (class Ostracoda), sometimes known as seed shrimp,” according to Wikipedia.

His dad, Jagjot, told The VOICE that Praneet, who came to Canada in 2011, was the Under-7 State Chess Champion of the state of Punjab in India and has always excelled in academics.

The first time that he participated in the Spelling Bee of Canada was in Grade 5 when he stood third in B.C.

Then, last year he stood first in B.C. and third in the nationals held in Toronto.

Again, in 2018, he topped in B.C. and was selected to represent B.C. in the nationals held in Toronto on May 6. It was a tough competition, but he ended up bagging the trophy.

Praneet is very versatile. His hobbies are reading, performing magic tricks and travelling. He aspires to be an archaeologist.

His dad, mom Ramneek Kaur and younger sister Maahi, 6, a student of Grade 1 in Khalsa Primary School, Newton Branch, were thrilled at his victory.

Incidentally, Praneet was also featured in The VOICE last year in May when he won 3rd position in the Spelling Bee of Canada Championship 2017 in the intermediate category.