KALAMAZOO, MI — A Kalamazoo fifth grader is headed home after competing with the nation’s best spellers at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.
Josiah Loehrke, a fifth grader at El Sol Elementary, made it through two rounds of the spelling bee, but was eliminated on a written test that narrowed the field of competitors to 99. Josiah tied for 100th place, along with the other 84 spellers eliminated in the written test.
“It’s going to be tricky,” Josiah said in an interview before the written test. He was watching the final two spellers compete in Round 2…