By CAROLINE CARMICHAEL / Staff Writer

It is bee season in Chilton County — spelling bee season, that is.

With one week remaining until the countywide competition, schools are narrowing down their best spellers.

Winners advance to the countywide bee on Feb. 2.

Sixth grader Kerington Davis of Verbena High School is one such finalist, taking the win in a Jan. 23 spelling bee with the correct spelling of the word “tablet.”

The word solidified her win after a concluding showdown between Davis and fourth grader Versain Guzman. They battled for correct spelling of “illness,” which would place Davis in first if she could spell the following word correctly.

“T-a-b-l-e-t” did the trick.

“Congratulations!” pronouncer and counselor Kelli Muncher declared, and a round of applause commended each participant.

Davis and Guzman said they were both nervous about competing.

They were not alone. The eight participants were jittering and whispering nervously before the bee commenced, but they wore broad smiles.

A practice round soothed nerves, presenting the first word of the bee: “cape.”

Studying helped Davis and Guzman prepare.

Davis said she read a list of words the night before the spelling bee.

Guzman had a different practice strategy.

“I write them,” he said confidently.

Some words that proved tricky for participants during the bee were “flying,” “radio,” “darling,” “awful,” and “muster.”

Erin Ward, counselor for k-6 grades at VHS, said participants in the Jan. 23 school-wide bee were selected based on their performances in class-wide spelling bees.

“Each homeroom class, grades three to six, held a classroom spelling bee,” Ward said. “There are two homeroom classes per grade, giving us two representatives for each grade.”

VHS will hold its final school-wide spelling bee on Jan. 26, determining a winner from the seventh and eighth grades to advance to the county bee.