Dr. Russell Moore and the four spelling bee finalists, L-R, Simran Rastogi, Noah Rudnick, Katrina Simonsen and Roman Tarbay.

February 12, 2009 - Seventh-grader Roman Tarbay survived 10 grueling rounds to win the district's annual spelling bee. He won the contest by correctly spelling "alibi."
 

The three runners up were Katrina Simonsen and Simran Rastogi, both seventh-graders, and Noah Rudnick, a sixth-grader at Blue Creek.

The four students head to the 27th annual Capital Region Spelling Bee, which will be held Monday, March 16 at 5 p.m. at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady. The champion of the Capital Region Spelling Bee will win an all-expenses-paid trip to Washington, D.C. to compete in the 2009 Scripps National Spelling Bee from May 24-29.
 

The four finalists and 25 other students qualified
for the competition after participating in classroom spelling bees, followed by schoolwide bees at each of the district's six elementary schools and the junior high school.

Dr. Russell Moore, principal of Shaker Junior High School, was the official pronouncer.