An eight-year-old Saskatoon student placed third at a national spelling bee in Toronto.
McKenna Fineblanket, a Grade 3 student from Bishop Roborecki School, is from the Makwa Sahgaiehcan First Nation.
She is the first indigenous student to place in the top three at the Spelling Bee of Canada, a 30-year-old annual competition.
Fineblanket won first place in the junior division at the Saskatchewan First Nations spelling bee in March.
“I had to write (the words) down five times and then my mom would test me on them,” Fineblanket said before going to nationals.
The junior division students had to know the spelling of 400 words.
