release date: May 5, 2011
Contact: Kathryn Gerbino, Assistant District Superintendent for Instruction, 518-862-4930
Top winners from the 2011 Capital Region Spelling Bee will share their experiences and be congratulated for their achievements at 6:30 p.m. on Friday, May 6 at The Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza. The public is welcome to attend.
One hundred talented spellers from area public and private schools in 11 counties competed in the 2011 spelling bee, held in February. The winner, Guilderland Central School District sixth-grader Mateen Sharif, will compete in the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C. later this month.
Sharif and the final round winners will be in attendance at Friday’s reception: Brandon Brijlall, a Notre Dame-Bishop Gibbons School seventh-grader who took second place; Noah Pappas, an eighth grader in the Bethlehem Central School District who came in third; Bill Dong, a Guilderland Central School District seventh-grader who placed fourth, and Paul Capuano, a home-schooled seventh grader who took fifth place.
By winning the regional competition, Sharif received an all-expense paid trip with a chaperone to the Scripps National Spelling Bee; a laptop/home computer donated by Hannaford Supermarkets; $200 U.S. Savings Bond donated by the Times Union and the Upper Hudson Library System; Webster’s Third New International Dictionary; the Samuel L. Sugarman Award, a $100 U.S. Savings Bond; Amazon.com $40 gift certificate; one-year subscription to Encyclopedia Britannica Online donated by Encyclopedia Britannica; and a gift pack from Proctors Theater.
“The regional spelling bee is an exciting event that recognizes the scholarship and dedication of students throughout our region,” said Kathryn Gerbino, Capital Region Spelling Bee Chairperson and Capital Region BOCES Assistant District Superintendent for Instruction. “We look forward to celebrating these students on Friday, and to wishing Mateen good luck at the Scripps National Spelling Bee.”
The 2011 Capital Region Spelling Bee is sponsored by Capital Region BOCES, the Times Union, the Upper Hudson Library System, Hannaford Supermarkets, Proctors Theatre and Time Warner Cable.
