The Tippecanoe Valley Middle School spell bowl team earned the runner-up spot in their class during the Indiana Academic Spell Bowl State Finals on Nov. 11 at Purdue University.

“The emcee stated that over 10,000 Indiana school kids began the competition at the regional level in four classes.These eleven, along with Coach Siebrase, bested all but one team in Class 3. Make sure you let them know today how proud you are of their success,” said Principal Scott Backus.

The team placed first in their class at the Indiana Academic Spell Bowl Junior Division regional qualifications on Nov. 1. TVMS and nine other schools throughout Indiana competed in the regional competition, which was hosted by TVMS. Students were broken up into classes one, two, three and four. The class a team competes in is based on last year’s enrollment. TVMS competed in class three and scored a 50 out of the junior division’s perfect score of 72.

This was the fourth trip to the state finals in the last five years for TVMS.