The Ben Davis Academic Spell Bowl team is a group of students who study a list of words from the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

The list consists of words from different languages and subjects, such as French and German and culinary arts and math. The team meets throughout the months of August, September, and October. If the team qualifies, the state competition is in November at Purdue University. 

The team meets two or three times a week to prepare for the meets. They meet in S107 and they usually study about a page of words a week.

“This team is open to all students who wish to study, spell, and write with us. The team is composed of grades 9-12,” coach Gary Peters says.

Senior Mawaddah Aminou said she joined because she did it in middle school, and thought it would be fun to continue in high school.  

Unlike a spelling bee where students spell out loud, the students sit and write.

Each round consists of nine words, and students only participate in one round during meets. Meets usually consist of ten rounds. Last year, the team had to go completely virtual. Many schools couldn’t compete, and many schools competed with incomplete teams. Because of the lack of teams, individuals could place to compete in the state meet. Ben Davis had one student to go through to state. 

Despite how challenging Covid was last year, the biggest challenge was lack of commitment. Joining the team is a commitment, and “ students should learn to ‘see it through’ once they join a group,” Peters says. 

The team has had two meets and the next one is scheduled during fall break.