Something in the W-A-T-E-R?

Michael Girbino of West Geauga Middle School knows how to spell all the words I'm about to use.

He'd better, because today he won his third trip to the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. The bee takes place the last week of May.

Michael is part of a long tradition of Geauga County spellers who've won the Tri-County Bee, which is the qualifier for the national bee. The News-Herald sponsors the Tri-County winner's trip to Washington.

A few years ago, a photograph of another Geauga speller was used in newspapers around the country. It showed Sammy Totino just a few seconds after he missed a word on the second day of that year's bee. The look on his face was priceless. Head tilted to the side, he appeared as though he was thinking to himself, "UGH!!"

In the office today, we discussed how we've seen Michael mature before our eyes, in pictures of his various appearances at bees through the years.

We're hoping Michael finds S-U-C-C-E-S-S in Washington. We hope he has T-H-R-I-L-L-S to last a lifetime.

Bring home a V-I-C-T-O-R-Y!