SUPERIOR – Bulwark was the word to cement Clara Davis as the champion of the Superior Spelling Bee and give her the opportunity to participate in the state spelling bee next month.

On Wednesday, Feb. 12, approximately 25 fifth through eighth grade students filled Superior Elementary School’s gym to participate in the spelling bee.

According to Trish Donovan, fifth grade teacher at Superior Elementary and one of the organizers of the spelling bee, a number of students put in extra effort to improve their vocabulary. Group study sessions in the weeks before the bee were a big help to some of the competitors.

“The kids who came to the practices seemed to do slightly better than the kids who did not,” said Donovan. “They were a great bunch of kids. They were hard working, tried real hard and were very good sports.”

The first round was lighthearted and gave the kids a chance to get over their nerves. After everyone had gone through once, the real competition began. Over the course of the next eight rounds, kids fell victim to misspelled words.

In each round groups of three students cycled through and were quizzed by Superior Elementary School Principal Scott Kinney. As each speller returned to their seat or exited the competition, another student came up to join the line.

Once it was down to three, the finalists entered a linguistic battle of wits. They barely had time to recover before coming up again as more complex words were presented each time they came to the microphone. After the third place finalist made a mistake, Davis and runner up Logan Noonan were the last ones standing.

Davis said the experience was fun. While she stumbled on a few of the words, she pushed through to victory. She said the final word was frustrating because of her nerves and efforts to remember the spelling. However, thanks to plenty of studying with her mom, she was able to recall the letters and end the competition.

Davis was a positive winner and gave special congratulations to her competition for a good effort.

“I want to say [the other] contestants did really well too,” she said. “They were really smart.”

This year, the spelling bee had a slight change. In years past, all three schools held a spelling bee and the winners would participate in a county bee to determine the area’s representative. Because of issues with the qualifications, Alberton and St. Regis were ineligible to participate in the state competition.

According to Donovan, the Scripps Organization changed some of the entry rules for the national competition. The organization is a media group who control several broadcast stations and put on the national spelling bee.

“We hope that changes next year,” said Donovan. “Next year we hope to go back to the format of three schools at a county bee after the local spelling bees.”

Barring unforeseen difficulties, Davis plans to go to the state competition. She said she would do lots of studying in the mean time to prepare.

Davis is a seventh grader at Superior Middle School. If Davis changes her mind or cannot go to the state competition, Noonan will fill his roll as runner up and go in her place. Davis received a special certificate to commemorate the victory as well as a medal.

The state competition will be held in Billings on March 22. The winners there will go to Washington D.C. to participate in the national competition against representatives from all 50 states, plus the District of Columbia.