Special to IFN

Tegan Seely, a Pine Lake Preparatory sixth-grader, recently won the school’s Spelling Bee for the third straight year. After finishing runnerup to a seventh-grader when she was in third grade, Tegan has been the charter school’s top speller in fourth, fifth and sixth grades.

“I really like to read books, and have seen a lot of vocabulary, and I can picture it in my head,” she said when asked about her preparation for the spelling bees. “I practiced some with the lists, but mainly read them over to see if there were words I hadn’t seen before.”

Words she has tackled in competition over the years include: blasphemous, senescent, craquelure, Okefenokee, delinquent, inimitable, and patisserie. This year, she won the PLP Spelling Bee after 17 rounds by spelling “coriander.”

Tegan said both her parents love to read, and shared their love of books with her. “I started pretty young, with ‘Hop on Pop’ and all the Dr. Seuss books, and it took off from there,” she said.

She prefers mysteries, and among her favorite authors currently are Stuart Gibbs, Steve Sheinkin, and James Ponti.

When she isn’t in school or reading, Tegan enjoys playing basketball for PLP.

“I love reading and I think it helps you a lot. If you want to have a successful life, you should read,” she said.