Best speller in the state

by Denver Brown

March 26, 2008 March 28, 2008 12:58 pm

— From basketball and bricks to the tunes of Tom T. Hall, Olive Hill is known for many things. Tack on spelling hotbed to that ever-growing list.
Josh Kaplinger, a seventh-grader at West Carter Middle School correctly put the letters together to form E-U-C-R-A-S-I-A and with that won top honors in the State Spelling Bee in Louisville.
Kaplinger, the county winner this year and last yearÕs runnerup, was honored by his classmates at a celebration last Wednesday. The soft-spoken speller was all smiles with the cake, balloons and roomful of well-wishers.
ÒI had to ask for the definition and that helped,Ó Kaplinger told The Journal-Times of his winning effort. ÒI was in between if I knew or not Ð I was very, very nervous. Then relieved after I spelled it.Ó
The son of Bill and Ann Kaplinger of Olive Hill, Josh said he enjoys language arts and math at school but he also likes reading, fishing, music and video games; sounds like regular kids stuff. But not every kid wins the State Spelling Bee.
ÒItÕs really amazing,Ó classmate Abby Hicks said of JoshÕs accomplishment. ÒYou wouldnÕt think that anyone we know would do something this big and then get to go onto the National Spelling Bee Ð this is great for Josh and for our school.
ÒJosh really is a good all-around student,Ó Hicks said. ÒAnd obviously heÕs smart, HeÕs pretty quiet, too. Josh really deserves this, he works hard.Ó
KaplingerÕs winning run included a dozen correctly spelled words as one by one, his competitors took their seats. Down to two, the other finalists missed the selection then ÔThe Olive Hill Spelling SensationÕ nailed the final attempt to win the title.
Look for more on this story as the local seventh-grader prepares for the National Spelling Bee.

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