Carver Elementary 4th grader Jon Ranieri doesn’t appear to be one to waste words.

But he sure can spell them.

Ranieri, a quiet 9-year-old, is bound for the District 8 spelling bee on Saturday in Waycross after winning the Bryan County School Sytem Spelling Bee on Feb. 10.

His reaction to the win?

"I’m excited," Ranieri said, though he seemed anything but.

"He’s very composed, very reserved" said his mom, Jennifer Ranieri, who watched him battled Richmond Hill Middle School 7th grader Kendall Thomas for the county crown.

The two took turns wading their way through a list of words ranging from "trajectory" to "susceptible" and "surveillance" for approximately 30 minutes before Ranieri nailed "saracasm" and then "amnesia" to win.

Jon and his mom studied a handful of pages out of a study guide, but most of his ability comes from his love of reading -- especially science fiction.

Jon’s father is Maj. Steve Ranieri, who is deployed to Iraq with the 3rd Infantry Division. His reaction to Jon’s win?

"His dad is very proud," Jennifer said. "He looked it up online the day it happened and knew about it before we could email him about it."