Darlington Lower School fourth-grader Andy Brunt took first place at the Independent Elementary School Spelling Bee on Thursday by correctly spelling the word “apocalyptic.”

Fifty-seven students in third through fifth grades participated in the competition at St. Mary’s School. Students represented Excel Christian School in Cartersville, Unity Christian School, Berry College Elementary, St. Mary’s and Darlington.

Parker Helms of Excel Christian won second place, and Darlington fourth-grader Bailey Kozlowski took third.

“Andy was so poised and confident at the spelling bee. I am so proud of his diligence when studying for this event,” said teacher Rebekah Kinney. “We are proud of Bailey Kozlowski as well, who has been studying diligently all year. Both of these students are avid readers and perform well in all academic areas.”

Andy said he was proud and excited to win, though he was nervous at first. He said he spent a lot of time studying the seventh- and eighth-grade word lists from the Scripps National Spelling Bee website.

“I felt like if I knew the harder words, I would be OK with the other words,” he said.