Diya Hundiwala, 8, of West Windsor won the spelling bee champion trophy on July 11, at Plainsboro Public Library. She is a rising third grade student at Dutch Neck Elementary School. Some of the words that Diya spelled correctly are scholarship, confection, tangy, ailment, and mysterious. “Books are my best friends,” she says.
“Reading is her passion and that helps her to be a good speller,” says her mother,” Kinnari Hundiwala. “She can read at any time, any place, any book. She has inherited her love for learning and reading from her father, Ajay Hundiwala, an engineer and financial analyst with a master’s degree in business administration, and both of her grandmothers.”
“If she doesn’t get an opportunity to read while we are out, the first thing that she does after returning home is read a book,” says Kinnari. “Last year she read more than 100 books during the summer reading program.”
Diya, who began reading when she was two years old, was an independent reader at the age of four. She has also helped her brother, Jay, 4, learn to read.
The family visits both West Windsor and Plainsboro libraries often. They learned about the spelling bee last summer and Diya was the second grade champion. “Since then she was determined to participate again this year and wanted to be the winner,” says her mother.
When not reading, Diya studies keyboard, piano, swimming, tennis, and roller skating. A dancer, she performed in “Nutcracker” and “Snow White” last year. She studies Bharat Natyam, Indian classical dance, with her mother, the founder and director of Shivam Academy of Fine Arts based in West Windsor.
“As their parents we enjoy seeing both of our children reading,” says her mother. “We strongly believe in listening to our children and giving them our time and encouraging them to work hard.”
