Forty-seven students compete in school district spelling bee

Seventh-grader Donald Rivenburg is feeling grand after winning the school district's spelling bee by correctly spelling 'grandiose.'

The runners up were fourth-grader Aniela Wilcenski and sixth-grader Brianne Borter. In all, 47 students in grades 4-8 participated in the spelling bee, which was held Tuesday, Feb. 5.

Rivenburg now heads to the 26th annual Capital Region Spelling Bee, which will be held Monday, March 10 at 5 p.m. at Proctor's 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 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee from May 25-31.

The Voorheesville students who participated in the spelling bee were:

Fourth-graders

Rachel Blow
Thomas Gallager
Alex Giordano
Omarra Hannibal-Williams
Althea Hoover
Stephany Keenan
Trevor McHugh
Phoebe Siegel
Olivia Suozzo
Aniela Wilcenski

Fifth-graders

Alexis Albanese
George Bernhard
Luke Gorka
Joseph Guyer
Carson Harris
Eric Patak
Hannah Suib
Jenna Vandervort

Sixth-graders

Philip Bache
Stephen Barone
Brianne Borter
Carmella Genovesi
Andrew Myers
Courtney Reilly
Christian Zeh
Morgan Zell

Seventh-graders

Michael Baker
Alec Biese
Caroline O’Rourke
Eric Patrie
Carla Planz
Donald Rivenburg
Shelby Saia
Adam Salerno
Scott VanDerWende
Caroline Weiss
Alternate: Benjamin Wilson

Eighth-graders

Melissa Amato
Elizabeth Childs
Michael Chiseri
Kevin Connolly
Louis DiVirgillo
Maiya Genovesi
Marcus Nakao
Veronica Peltz
David Suozzo
Eliza Vera