Logan Turner gets a good luck haircut from his aunt, Janis Turner, on Friday. Logan, who leaves today for Washington, D.C., for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, got a haircut the day before he won the regional bee in February. He’s hoping this haircut will be as lucky as the February trim.

Credit: 

The Chronicle-Journal

Study, study, study. That’s been the story of regional spelling bee champ Logan Turner’s life since January.

First for The Chronicle-Journal CanWest CanSpell Regional Spelling Bee in February, which he won when he spelled “parfait” correctly, then for the national bee held in Ottawa in April — where he was eliminated in the sixth round when the word “succotash” stumped him — and now for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, an international event being held in Washington D.C., starting today.

The 11-year-old said he has been studying a lot for what he thinks is going to be a harder competition then he is used to.

“I think there will be lot of harder words (than in Ottawa), especially in the preliminaries because they have to cut 188 or more people, so it is going to have to be pretty hard to do that,” he said.

Turner said he will be competing against 287 other students.

Each participant will be asked to spell a number of words through a computer program during the preliminary round as well as one word in front of judges. Once the individual scores are totalled the judges will narrow it down to one hundred competitors.

Those students will then compete in the quarterfinals on May 29. The finals will be held the following day.

“I do hope to get to the final round, but if there is one thing that I really want to do down there it will be to get past the preliminaries,” said Turner.

He also said he is looking forward to tours of the International Spy Museum and Annapolis.

The Turner family is scheduled to arrive in Washington this afternoon.