At the start of the competition to determine which student would represent Mineral County in the state spelling bee, about three dozen students sat nervously in the Superior High School gymnasium last Thursday evening.

The setting had folding chairs facing two tables at center court which were seated with the officials. The three judges were Katy Cannon of Alberton, Kelsey Clark of St. Regis and Chelsea Nygaard of Superior, along with the pronouncer, Angie Hopwood, from Superior. 

In the stands were friends and family who were there to support and then console as almost one-half of the contestants were eliminated in the first round. Another half of the contestants left after the second round, but everyone was in good spirits with some chuckling at the simple mistake that took them out of the running.

By 6:42 p.m., Daisy Sansom from St. Regis had won the Mineral County Spelling Bee and second place went to Ruby Pittsley from Superior. 

“I didn’t do anything special,” said Sansom when asked how she prepared for this competition. “Not thinking about it as much as I could have kept me from becoming nervous, which helped,” she said. 

Pittsley, on the other hand, studied. 

“I took some practice spelling bee words and practiced them a few times,” she explained. 

Both young ladies were pleased and were gracious when accepting their trophies and both will never forget the word, “criteria”. 

The Montana State Spelling Bee will be held Saturday, March 9, in Bozeman.

    Daisy Sansom from St. Regis, left, was the winner of the Mineral County Spelling Bee last week, with Ruby Pittsley from Superior taking second place. (Monte Turner/Mineral Independent)