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Bauxite 8th-grader, spells 'antidote' to win county spelling bee |
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Saturday, 09 February 2008 |
 Daniel Davis and his mother, LaNita Davis, show off the certificate declaring Daniel the winner of the 2008 Saline County Spelling Bee. The bee was held Thursday at Butler Auditorium on the Benton High School campus. Davis is an eighth-grade student at Bauxite High School. He will represent the county in the Arkansas Spelling Bee on March 8 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. (Courier photo by Matt Burks)
Then he spelled it: “A-n-t-i-d-o-t-e,” he said slowly.
That’s correct, and Daniel, an eighth-grader at Bauxite High School, is the 2008 Saline County Spelling Bee champion in his final year of eligibility.
The event was held Thursday morning at Benton High School’s Butler Auditorium.
Daniel out-spelled 30 students from county schools to take first place in the competition.
Bill Waskom, supervisor of the Benton School District’s gifted programs, directed the bee. When he announced that Daniel spelled “antidote” correctly, and Daniel heard the applause, the student smiled and breathed a sigh of relief.
“I am just really happy I won this today,” he said. “A lot of thanks goes to my mom. She really helped a lot.”
His mother, LaNita Davis, said she is proud of her son and is glad to see that his hard work paid off.
“Daniel has been competing in spelling bees since he was in the fourth grade,” she said.
“This was his third year in the county competition, and I can tell that he is really happy to finally win it all in his last year of eligibility.”
Waskom explained that the county competition is open to students in grades 3-8.
Daniel Davis did not place in his first year of the county competition in 2006, but did in 2007.
His parents said coming so close to winning only inspired him to keep trying.
“It just made him work harder,” Jerry Davis said of his son. “He never gave up, and he became more determined. I am really proud of him and the time he invested into it. I am really proud of him for not giving up.”
Jerry Davis said his wife was a tremendous help to their son, who spent many hours working on improving his spelling skills. He said the two would sit down with a dictionary and a Scripps Howard spelling book reviewing words.
“He and his mom would go back and forth day and night working on spelling words,” Jerry Davis said. “You see, he doesn’t play sports, so this is what he likes to spend his time concentrating on. He really loves it.”
Daniel said he hopes to one day become a family practice physician, but for now just wants to concentrate on his school and future spelling contests. Although he hasn’t decided on a college, his mom said she is confident he will have no problems applying to any universities.
“He will have plenty of options,” LaNita Davis said. “He is an all-A student and he works really hard.”
For winning the competition, Daniel won a $50 savings bond from Union Bank in Benton and the opportunity to compete in the state spelling bee March 8 at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
The state winner will advance to the 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee on May 29-30 in Washington D.C.
“I told my son that the pressure is off now since he won the county competition,” Jerry Davis said. “He said, ‘No, now I am not just representing Bauxite. I am representing the whole county.’ So now he is back at working hard again, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.”
Mark Dufek, a third-grade student at Collegeville Elementary in Bryant, placed second and takes home a Franklin Spelling Ace and thesaurus from Office Depot. He was the youngest competitor in the event.
Serving as judges for the spelling bee were community leaders Oveta Pledger and Donnie Burks and Whit Jones, editor of the Courier.
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