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May 23, 2009

Covington student off to national bee

BY DENNIS BARTLOW

COVINGTON, Ind. — Michael Spors is flying on a commercial airplane for the first time today.

The Covington Middle School student and his family are on their way to Washington, D.C., where Michael will be one of 293 participants in the Scripps National Spelling Bee this week.

“I am very excited,” Spors, 14, said last week. “I have done a lot of studying. I am looking forwards to the finals.”

Spors won the regional competition sponsored by the Lafayette Journal & Courier. He is the first-ever regional winner from Covington. He will be one of 14 from Indiana in the national event.

Spors and his family will stay at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Washington. Michael is looking forward to his first trip to the nation’s capital.

Michael is joined in Washington by his mother, Margaret Spors; father, Jon Sports; and his sister, Jenny.

“He is a good student,” said middle school counselor Marilyn Kochell. “We are so proud of him.”

Orientation will be Monday along with the first round of competition via computer. The Great American Barbecue will be on tap for participants and their families.

Round 2 of the preliminaries will be Tuesday with Round 3 on Wednesday with all the participants participating. The top 50 contestants will advance to the semifinals Thursday morning, with the finals that night.

Michael is looking forward to doing some touring while he is in Washington, especially the Smithsonian Institution and some of the monuments.

“We will have some free time,” he said.

Although Michael said the regional competition was not that difficult, he is still awed by the opportunity to participate in the National Spelling Bee.

“I would not have expected this to happen,” he said. “My parents have been helping me.”



FOLLOW MICHAEL

You can follow Michael Spors’ trip to the National Spelling Bee this week in daily reports in the Commercial-News.

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