Niskayuna middle school students compete in
Capital Region Spelling Bee
Over the course of five hours of tough
competition, 100 students mulled word origins,
wrote invisible words with their fingers and
chose letters carefully as they sparred for the
title of champion at the 2011 Capital Region
Spelling Bee, held Feb. 9.
 Martin
Schreiner (pictured), an 8th-grader at Van
Antwerp, Christopher Sullivan, an 8th-grader at
Iroquois, and Scott Terwilliger, a 7th-grader at
Iroquois, were among the 100 talented spellers
from area public and private schools in 11
counties who won local bees in their home
districts to move on to competition at the
regional bee, held at Proctors Theatre in
Schenectady. The students hailed from the
following counties: Albany, Columbia, Greene,
Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady,
Schoharie, Ulster, Warren and Washington.
"Just by making
it here, you are all winners," said Kathryn
Gerbino, Capital Region Spelling Bee Chairperson
and Capital Region BOCES Assistant District
Superintendent for Instruction, to the spellers.
"You should all be proud of such an
extraordinary accomplishment.
"The regional
spelling bee is an exciting event that
recognizes the scholarship and dedication of
students throughout our region," Gerbino said.
"All students who compete are winners because
they make reading and learning our language a
priority ― these young contestants are surely
role models for all our students."
Mateen Sharif,
a sixth grader from the Guilderland Central
School District, took the top honor by correctly
spelling "pecuniary," which means "consisting of
or pertaining to money."
The public will
be able to watch the Capital Region Spelling Bee
on Channel 3 at 9 a.m. Sunday, Feb. 13. The bee
will also be available through Time Warner
Cable's On-Demand service.
(February 9, 2011)
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