It took seven grueling rounds, but Clearview Elementary was able to crown a new spelling bee champion last week.

 

At the end of the fourth round, nine out of the 15 students who started the competition remained for round five. After the words ‘flail’ and ‘solely’ each stumped a competitor, seven were left to compete in round six.

 

With the words in each round becoming steadily more difficult, one after another five more students misspelled their words, leaving Elijah S. and Milan L. to face off and determine the school champion.

 

Round seven; Elijah correctly spelled ‘ruefully.’ Milan correctly spelled ‘pennant.’

 

Round eight; Elijah correctly spelled recognition; Milan misspelled ‘writhing.’

 

To be named champion, Elijah then needed to spell the final word correctly. Fifth-grade teacher Patti Clymer, who was reading the words to the competitors, gave him ‘fulcrum.’ After a brief moment of thought, he emerged successful.

 

“I was nervous,” said Elijah. “But I was confident on the last word. I wanted to win so I’m very glad I did.”

 

With his win, Elijah will move on to the district spelling bee in St. Cloud on Jan. 24. The top district winners will then move on to the next level of competition.