Waupaca Middle School sixth-grade student Alex Thuerman is headed to the Wisconsin State Spelling Bee.
He outlasted 14 competitors in the CESA 5 Regional Spelling Bee held in Amherst on Feb. 12.
Champion spellers from Almond-Brancroft, Stevens Point, Tomorrow River, Tri-County Wild Rose and Waupaca school districts competed for the title.
He correctly spelled the words “fringe,” “deliberate,” “legitimacy,” kinetic,” “amendment,” “spectrometer” and “revenant” to earn top honors in the seven-round competition.
Eighth-grade student, Micaela Porod, also from Waupaca, was awarded second place.
Thuerman, the son of Mark and Paula Thuerman, won a trophy and a Webster’s New College Dictionary.
The Wisconsin State Spelling Bee will be held on March 23 at Edgewood College in Madison.