Rani Peffer: Find out more about...

Bullying

Like far too many kids, Rani experienced bullying when she was in school. At that time, bullying was not taken as seriously as it is now. There are some great resources to combat bullying and learn more about what kids can do if they experience or witness bullying. There has even been a bill introduced in Congress called the Safe Schools Improvement Act to explicitly prohibit bullying and harassment. You can learn more about how you can get involved in getting this bill passed into law here.

Spelling Bee

What do antediluvian, chiaroscurist, soubrette, psoriasis, maculature, crustaceology, smaragdine have in common?

They’ve all been winning words in the National Spelling Bee! Why is it called a bee? According to dictionary.com:

Bee is derived from the Old English bēn meaning “a prayer, a favor.” By the late eighteenth century, bee had become commonly associated with the British dialect form, been or bean, referring to the joining of neighbors to work on a single activity to help a neighbor in need: sewing bee, quilting bee, etc. This derivation counters a long held belief that bee refers to the buzzing insect and the social nature of a beehive. The earliest printed reference to spelling bee dates back to 1825. However, children had been engaged in competitive wordplay for years beforehand.

Did you know? For the past 3 years, the National Spelling Bee has ended in a tie! Find out more interesting statistics about the kids who compete here. This year 285 competitors included one first grader, 11 spellers who have a twin, and one speller who was competing for the fourth time!

See if you have what it takes to spell with the best by taking a practice test and get a glimpse behind the scenes by watching Akeelah and the Bee or the 2002 documentary Spellbound. If you’re a fan of the movie, you can find out more about what the kids featured in the movie have gone on to do.

Corporate Finance

Corporate Finance is all the financial activity related to running a corporation. Rani worked in a variety of areas within corporate finance before settling in the one she liked best.  You can get overviews here and here. 

If you want to learn some of the skills you might need for corporate finance, you can check out free online courses starting soon here and here.

Becoming a game show contestant

Rani has been a winning contestant on Who Wants to be a Millionaire? and Jeopardy! Win or lose, being a game show contestant is a LOT of fun! Find out more about trying out for Jeopardy!, The Price is Right, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Wheel of Fortune, and more.