Reaching a goal can take a lot of hard work. Just ask 13-year-old Faizan Zaki of Allen, Texas.
Faizan first took part in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2019. He came in 370th place. This year? He won the top prize!
In May, Faizan beat out about 240 other spellers from across the country. He earned more than $50,000. His big win taught him an important lesson. He learned to never give up.
“I wanted to do better,” he says. “So I kept working harder and harder.”
In fact, Faizan spent five to six hours after school each day studying for the Bee. He pushed himself to learn up to 5,000 words every day.
How did it feel to finally reach his goal?
“It’s so amazing,” Faizan says. “I was really happy.”