BOUNTIFUL -- South Davis, start your spelling engines! The Davis County Spelling Bee south end semi-finals is only a few days away, on Feb. 19 at 7 p.m. at Bountiful High School. Anyone interested is welcome and encouraged to attend. The top 15 or so winners from this spelling bee will go on to the final round at Woods Cross High School in March, where they will compete for the chance to attend the National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C.

"This is the event that kicks everything else off," said Rolf Koecher, executive editor of the Davis County Clipper and one of the major organizers of the bee. The Davis County Spelling Bee is being jointly sponsored by the Clipper and the Davis County PTA. "For local residents, the area semi-finals have an extra level of excitement."

Top spellers from around two dozen South Davis elementary schools will be participating in the south-end semi-finals, including Adelaide, Boulton, Bountiful, Burton, Centerville, Creekside, Farmington, Heritage, Holbrook, Kaysville, Knowlton, Legacy Prep, Meadowbrook, Muir, Oak Hills, Orchard, Reading, Tolman, Valley View, Wasatch Peak, Washington, West Bountiful and Windridge.

In both the North Davis and South Davis semifinals, the students have already received several pages of spelling words from which many competition words will be pulled. In the final round, however, the students will be faced with a variety of extremely difficult words.

"It's a real test," said Koe-cher. "It shows the skills of the spellers we have in this area."

jwardell@davisclipper.com