SHE correctly spelt stringent, stereophonic and symbiotic but it was syndicate that proved Anika Hussain's greatest spelling challenge.
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The 12-year-old Griffith North public school student was knocked out in round seven of the Premier's Spelling Bee finals in Sydney last week with the word that refers to a group of individuals or organisations that have a shared interest.
It was the first round students were faced with unseen words.
To make it that far, Anika had also conquered conquer, twilight and reticent as one of 44 students competing in the senior division knock-out final.
The road to the final was a journey through regional competitions littered with words such as obsequious, onomatopoeia, staphylococcus and quorum.
Across the senior and junior divisions, there were only 87 finalists from more than 131,000 students who took part in this year's Spelling Bee.
Anika received a Macquarie Encyclopedic Dictionary for her efforts in making it to the state final.