Mount Vernon boy to take part in national spelling bee

By Emily Busse

The Gazette

MOUNT VERNON – After four “nerve wracking” sudden death rounds and still no winner, 10-year-old Jeremy Ferguson stepped up to the podium Saturday during Iowa's state spelling bee and beat out his opponent with the word “pharmacology.”

Now, the fifth-grader at Mount Vernon Middle School has a spot in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington D.C.

“I was hoping to get this far, but I didn't expect to get this far,” Jeremy said.

Jeremy won the district spelling bee, beating out a pool of fifth through eigth-graders, before heading to Saturday's state showdown at Iowa State University's Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication.

According to his dad, Ian, Jeremy sets aside an hour after school and a half hour later at night to look up words and familiarize himself with the spelling. His mother then quizzes him on the words he's learned that day.

Though Jeremy's first spelling bee was in second grade, his dad said he's been preparing – in a way – since he was an infant.

“It started when he was a few days old. We read to him every single night of his life and then finally when he was about 4-years-old, he picked it up and started reading to himself and to us at night,” Ian said. “From that point on, he became this super reader.”

According to Ian, Jeremy read the Harry Potter series in Kindergarten.

“I just know a lot of words,” Jeremy said. “I read a lot.”

Jeremy is already registered for the National Spelling Bee, which will take place May 27 – June 1.

The last time someone from the Cedar Rapids area participated in the National Bee was in 2005, when Isaac Kurth, who was then a 13-year-old eighth-grader at Harding Middle School, came just shy of making the finals.

The last Iowa winner of the National Spelling Bee was in 1946, when John McKinney of Des Moines  secured first place.

Though Jeremy said Saturday was a whirlwind of nervousness, excitement, and relief, he said he's already looking forward to the national competition.

“I'm proud to represent Iowa and my school at the national spelling bee,” he said.