Correspondent photo / John D. Bagnola Eighth-grader Joshua Theis uses all of his necessary study tools to perform well at the 92nd annual 21-WFMJ Regional Spelling Bee Saturday at Stambaugh Auditorium. The winner of the regional bee will go on to compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., over Memorial Day weekend.

NORTH JACKSON — If someone asked you to spell gastritis, aggrandize, anachronistic or circumlocution, would you be able to spell any one of them?

Joshua Theis, 13, a student at Jackson-Milton Junior High School, can. His third-grade teacher, Tammy Snyder, will attest to that.

Joshua would describe her as a most ardent believer in the importance of reading books, and she taught all students the importance of learning the spelling and definitions of fun new words to add to their vocabulary. As a third grader, Joshua became the spelling bee champ against students in grades 3-8. He said he was proud of his Bumble Bee trophy, but he had his sights set on a bigger one — a trophy from the Regional Spelling Bee, which is sponsored by 21-WFMJ.

So that he wouldn’t lose his competitive edge, he took a couple of years off but continued to study words in preparation for the Junior High spelling bee. And now as an eighth grader, he said it really paid off. He will compete Saturday against approximately 70 other students from Mahoning and Trumbull counties in the 92nd annual regional bee for a chance to compete at the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., over Memorial Day weekend.

During his time off, Joshua gained some immeasurable advice from his parents, Angeline and Joel, and all of his teachers. His mother, an English teacher, for years expressed the importance of learning root words and derivatives as well as knowing prefixes and suffixes. She stressed learning phonetics, which is studying speech sounds that will help make it easier to spell a new word.

“The prefix is a word part added to the beginning of a word and a suffix is a word part added to the end of a word, and they both change the word’s meaning. Learning the meanings of the two helped me to expand my vocabulary and also helped me with writing and spelling,” Joshua said.

He also said his English teachers and parents all have been instrumental in helping him reach his goal of becoming a great competitive speller. His parents knew he was getting really serious when he would finish his homework and go directly to the Scripps National Spelling Bee website to practice with new words and their definitions.

There also are fun games to play on the study list, which contains 4,000 words. Students can choose from five game modes and three meaning game modes. There also is spellingstars.com and at home video programs with phonics and spelling patterns for future spelling champs on scholarswithin.com.

Joshua also believes in the old standby, Unabridged Merriam-Webster Dictionary, which still is the official dictionary of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

“You need all the help you can get when you get words like, nebulae, eucalyptus and digression. These were just three of the words I spelled correctly (to win the school spelling bee),” he said.

To relax and get away from the tedious task of spelling difficult words for a while, Joshua runs cross country and track. However, he said the words seem to follow him wherever he goes.

During track practice, his coach has a list of words on his clipboard with definitions and will yell out a difficult word for him to spell during each lap or sprint. The coach said it might even help Joshua improve his running time because it takes his mind off the pain of strenuous exercise.

“It must help because I set a personal-best time during almost every meet. Coach Tyler was shocked when I turned in my eighth-grade personal best of 14:25 for the 2-mile race,” Joshua said.

Last year, as a seventh grader, Joshua won the Jackson-Milton Junior High bee. That victory enabled him to move on to the regional competition at Stambaugh Auditorium. He was a proud third-place finisher and won the 42-inch trophy he had his sights on for years, plus a $500 college scholarship to Kent State.

Joshua will make his third and final attempt to win at the regional bee and make it to nationals.

“My preparation is a little more intense than it was last year because I am set on going to nationals and winning it all this year. It is my last chance to win not just a trophy, but a sizable scholarship,” he said.

Even though he is well prepared through continuous practice, he said he still gets the jitters.

The first word seems to be the hardest for him. But after the third word, he said he seems to settle down and is able to concentrate and dissect the word just as he has learned to do from all who have supported him in this endeavor through the years.