While some local churches and schools' gyms were host to voters Tuesday, another school gym also had "choices" - as a spelling word, along with other words that included "locomotive," "hedgehog," "rugby," "monogram," "mystery" and "postpaid."
Up on "aqua," and out on "courier," St. Martin Catholic School fourth-grader Brenna Schulte said she'd studied since February for Tuesday's spelling bee at St. Martin's gym - and she earned third place in the round of the bee for fourth-graders.
Tuesday's bee for 210 students from 21 area parochial Catholic and Lutheran schools from Jefferson City, Taos, St. Thomas, Honey Creek, Loose Creek, Westphalia, Eugene, Fulton, Linn, Vienna, Rolla, Marshal, Martinsburg, Montgomery, Mexico and Pilot Grove was "close to the largest" ever, the bee's director Leann Higgins said ahead of time Monday.
Higgins teaches third grade at St. Martin, and added last year's spelling bee had 22 schools participate.
"We turned two schools away this year," she said.
She and Principal Eddie Mulholland said St. Martin has had the spelling bee for approximately 30 years.
Mulholland credited many volunteers who help organize and run the bee, and added Hy-Vee is the sponsor.
"I like watching the competitions, just because I think it's interesting and you can get into it," Higgins said.
She added St. Martin hosting the bee is a good chance for St. Martin students to see it all - only the students competing would experience the spelling bee if it were at another school.
There were St. Martin students watching for a time Tuesday morning, along with an audience of hundreds of other people.
"Quiet, intense," Mulholland described the atmosphere.
Student competitors sat at the front of the gym, one grade level of 42 students - two from each school - at a time, for fourth through eighth grades.
Two at a time, students stood and took their places behind two standing microphones, and one contestant at a time got his or her word to spell from a pronouncer.
"Quizzes" was first for the fourth-graders, and then "punish," "canvas," "cardigan" and on to include "superhighway," "coppery," "optical," "astray," "helicopter," "rebus" and "thermal."
The pronouncer used each word in a sentence before contestants had to spell, and at least one competitor asked for a definition.
About half of the fourth-graders were out within the first 30 minutes. There were a few tricky words that sounded like others, but are spelled differently - "neigh," "weighs" and "lessen," not to be confused with nay, ways and lesson.
Higgins said there are ribbons and a plaque for the top winners.
For next year, Schulte said of "courier" that she would "make sure I can spell that one."
Mulholland later said Tuesday Jefferson City's Trinity Lutheran School was the overall team winner.