Spelling is a skill and one that Thorsby eighth grader Cole Wilson mastered, after winning the annual Thorsby School Spelling Bee on Thursday.

“I’ve always been a good speller and that’s thanks to my mom,” Wilson said. “She has always been good with words.”

The spelling bee consisted of students from third to eighth grade and involved 13 students, with at least one from each grade.

According to counselor Kristie Hardy, the competition lasted for 30 rounds and a total of 154 words were spelled in the end.

Ravine was the final word that Wilson spelled correctly and what won him the competition. He will represent Thorsby at the Chilton County spelling bee that will take place around the last week in January 2017.

According to Wilson, he felt confident as soon as they gave him the word “ravine” and knew right away that there was a good chance of taking home the trophy.

“Everybody has been congratulating me,” Wilson said.

Wilson studied for the spelling bee, just as he would any other test. He did so for about a couple of months leading up to the competition and recited as many words as he could throughout the process.

He participated in a prior spelling bee as a fourth grade student at Jemison.

The pressure of being up on stage can grow the deeper it gets into the competition. However, that did not faze Wilson.

“I just tried not to look at the audience and just focus on the microphone and concentrate on the words,” Wilson said.