The atmosphere was electric in the auditorium at PS 94 Kings College on Wednesday morning while fourth- and fifth-graders faced off in the Norwood school’s yearly spelling bee.

A spellbound audience of over 300 students watched for two hours as their peers nailed words like “revolutionary,” “responsibility,” “visualize,” and “microphone.”

After seven rounds of competition, the 31 contestants, who had been preparing for weeks for the contest, had been narrowed down to three: fourth-graders Fatima Ali, Mohammed Ali (no relation) and Samuel Yeboah.

Fatima Ali, 9, wearing light-up sneakers, secured third place and bowed out after attempting to spell “technique.”

That left Mohammed, 9, and Samuel, 10, facing off in the last round.

When Mohammed fumbled the spelling of the word “outrageous,” the auditorium erupted in shouting as the tension mounted.

“It was intense,” student Skyla St Fleur later said.

According to the rules of the final round, Samuel had to correctly spell “outrageous” and then spell one final word in order to win first place.

Their teachers hushed them, saying, “you’re making our contestants very nervous,” before the spelling bee was allowed to continue.

Samuel got “outrageous” right, and the audience waited intently for the final word.

“To win,” a judge told Samuel, “you need to spell ‘volunteer.’”

Samuel calmly secured his victory, enunciating, “V-O-L-U-N-T-E-E-R.”

The students cheered and Samuel beamed as the judges announced the winner.

All three finalists accepted medals, trophies and certificates from the judges and posed for pictures with their grinning relatives.

Samuel said that while he was proud, the victory came as a surprise.

“My mom was the only one who really knew I was gonna win,” he said. “I didn’t even know I was gonna win.”

The contest, created in 2007, was the latest edition of what has become a tradition at PS 94.

“We’ve been at it for 12 years,” said Nadine Hickson, the mother of a student, who came up with the idea of the spelling bee in 2007. “It’s a wonderful thing to get them to participate in their education.”

A member of the parent-teacher association added, “It’s great to see them excited about spelling and big words.”

The students said they’d been inspired by a recent in-school showing of Akeelah and the Bee, a 2006 film about a girl from the Crenshaw neighborhood of South Los Angeles who enters and wins the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

As for their school’s spelling bee, the kids were already looking forward to next time.

Next year, Fatima said with a smile, “I’m gonna win first place.”