Parker Dietry didn?t know what he was in for when he walked away as the state?s champion speller in March.In the past two months, the 14-year-old Waunakee eighth-grader has exchanged video games for word lists and gets to shoot hoops only if he?s simultaneously spelling words such as ?feijoada? and ?ferrochromium.? But he?s optimistic the time he?s devoted to studying and spelling ? about 25 to 30 hours a week ? will pay off this week as he heads to Washington, D.C., for the Scripps National Spelling Bee. His efforts have meant working with Jeff Kirsch, director of the Spanish and Portuguese Independent Learning program in the UW-Madison division of continuing studies.
Office of Strategic Communication