Talented spellers from area schools to compete in Capital Region Spelling Bee on March 10
Special recognition of the Bee champion and final round winners will be held May 3 at Albany Barnes & Noble

Albany – More than 100 talented spellers from area public and private schools will compete in the 2008 Capital Region Spelling Bee at Proctors Theater in Schenectady. The program and competition will be held March 10 beginning at 5:00 p.m. A Scholastic Book Fair, coordinated by the Times Union, will take place in the Proctor’s Arcade. The winner of the Capital Region Spelling Bee will go on to compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., May 26-June 1.

The students, hailing from schools in Albany, Columbia, Montgomery, Rensselaer, Saratoga, Schenectady, Schoharie, Warren and Washington counties, have won their local spelling bees and are representing their schools and districts in the Capital Region Spelling Bee. Last year place winner Dan LaChapelle, an eighth-grader from the Bethlehem Central School District, will return to compete in this year’s Bee.

The winner of the regional competition will receive an all-expense paid trip with a chaperone to Washington, D.C. to participate in the Scripps National Spelling Bee; a $200 U.S. Savings Bond; a Merriam Webster Third New International Dictionary; a laptop/home computer donated by Hannaford Supermarkets; Samuel L. Sugarman Award ($100 U.S. Savings Bond); an Amazon.com gift certificate; gift card, writing journal and board game donated by Barnes & Noble; a family four pack of tickets to The Spencers: Theatre of Illusion on March 30 courtesy of Proctors Theatre; and a one-year subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Linda Rudnick, Director of Instruction for the City School District of Albany, serves as the Bee’s pronouncer. Tim Burke, interim director of the Albany Public Library, Margaret DiGiulio, Instructional Supervisor for Secondary English Language Arts in the City School District of Albany, and Lisa Palmer of the City School District of Albany will serve as judges.

 “The regional spelling bee is an exciting event that recognizes the scholarship and dedication of the students throughout our region,” says Dr. Kathryn Gerbino, Capital Region Spelling Bee Chairperson and BOCES Assistant District Superintendent of Instruction. “Every student who competes is a winner because he/she makes reading a priority and writes and speaks to gain familiarity with the language of this country and the origins of words from many other countries. The young contestants are surely role models for all of our students.”

The event, which is open to the public, is sponsored by Capital Region BOCES, the Times Union Newspaper, Albany Public Library, Hannaford Supermarkets, Barnes & Noble, and Proctors Theatre.

The final round winners will be recognized at a special event on May 3 at Barnes & Noble, Wolf Road, Albany, at 2 p.m. The students will share their experience in the Capital Region Spelling Bee and offer support to the winner of the Bee as he/she prepares for the National Spelling Bee at the end of May. The public is welcome to attend this recognition event in support of the students and their accomplishment. Refreshments will be provided.

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List of students competing in the Capital Region Spelling Bee