Fort Myers Middle Academy student out at spelling bee

Jeffery Thompson, the Fort Myers Middle Academy student, was bested by the written portion of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

The 14-year-old who traveled to Washington D.C. for the competition said he was disappointed by the result.

After spelling two words correctly, Jeffery was eliminated after a written round of the tournament. He was part of 214 spellers competing to get a spot in the semi-finals. Almost 50 moved on to Thursday's competition, which will be aired on ESPN2.

"I actually thought I was going to get farther," Jeffery said.

"It was a written test, which was hard," he said.

Jeffery first spelled "musicale" to make it through the round two preliminaries. "Musicale" is a small musical gathering or concert.

He later spelled "habiliments" — clothing suited for an occupation — to advance to the next round.

Collier County's 13-year-old Jonathon Schafer, of Royal Palm Academy, incorrectly spelled "panglossian" which is defined as extreme optimism, especially in the face of hardship.

Only four spellers were eliminated in the first round.

Prior to Wednesday's competition, Thompson prepared for the spelling bee for nearly a month after winning the Lee County spelling bee in March. In addition to the average eighth-grader's homework, his parents would assign him their own assignments after school.

"We'd have him sit down and write 21 words, five times each every day," Thompson's father, Don, said. "Since he qualified for the national competition, we bumped it up to 42 w

ords and took (the words) out of the Bee's dictionary."

Thompson said writing words was the best way for him to study prior to the competition because it complimented what his father called a "photographic memory."

"Once he sees a word, he knows it," Don Thompson said.

"There were words that I didn't study," Jeffery said of the written round.

He now plans to visit some of the attractions of Washington.

The semifinals will be aired live on ESPN2 Thursday at 10 a.m. The finals will air at 8 p.m. on ESPN.