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  • Austin Wolfgram, 13, of Elk Rapids, demonstrates the pose he used when he won the Grand Traverse Regional Spelling Bee in March. Austin will be traveling to Washington D.C. next week for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. Record-Eagle/Keith King

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May 31, 2010

Elk Rapids student heads to national bee

BY LINDSAY VANHULLE lvanhulle@record-eagle.com

ELK RAPIDS — Austin Wolfgram will have to miss a band trip to the Michigan's Adventure amusement park in Muskegon.

It was that or compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., this week.

His flight leaves today.

"My goal is to get on TV," said Austin, 13, a seventh-grader at Cherryland Middle School in Elk Rapids. "Obviously, I would like to win."

Austin is one of 273 spellers from across the country — and around the globe, as evidenced by participants from American Samoa, the Bahamas, Canada, China, Europe, Ghana, Guam, Jamaica, Japan, New Zealand, Puerto Rico, South Korea and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

He qualified after winning the Grand Traverse Regional Spelling Bee in March with the word "meloplasty."

Two years ago, Austin placed second in the regional bee as a fifth-grader. That year's local winner, Chris Rice, attends Cherryland.

"He usually beats me," Austin said. "I was just pretty good at memorizing stuff."

The national bee lasts three days, but activities are planned for the spellers all week. Wednesday is a preliminary test of 50 words, of which half are scored. Each student will spell two words onstage Thursday for a chance to qualify for the televised semifinals and finals on Friday.

Austin reviews lists of words with his parents, Vern and Laura, and said he typically studies about four pages a night from practice materials.

His parents say his knack for spelling dates back at least a few years. By the time he was in fourth grade, he was editing letters his father, a teacher, planned to distribute to his students.

"He likes looking for things," Vern Wolfgram said. "It's been handy."

Austin plays soccer and basketball, runs track and plays alto saxophone in band. He plays music for fun with friends.

His father hopes Austin will have fun competing in the bee, regardless of how he finishes.

"You just put it in perspective that it's just spelling, and it's sometimes the luck of the draw the words you get," Vern Wolfgram said. "There's a lot you take away besides the win."

Like a trip to a place he has never been.

Older brother Mackenzie, 16, a sophomore at Elk Rapids High School, won't go along. But Austin and his parents plan to fit in sightseeing as much as they can.

If he doesn't win, Austin said, "It'd just be fun to go to Washington, D.C."

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