Friday, Jan. 11 was a docile day at William S. Hackett Middle School. D-O-C-I-L-E, that is. Correctly stating those six letters earned Pine Hills Elementary School’s Jonah Bouget, a fifth-grader, first-place in the district’s 2019 spelling bee.
It took nine rounds for the 14 contenders to trickle down to two finalists. Words like “offal,” “barbarous” and “gangrene” eliminated the top speller from every elementary and middle school in the district until it was just Bouget and Hackett eighth-grader Hannah Goldstein on the stage.
You could feel the pressure in the auditorium and also see the emotion on the students’ faces after the judges nodded “yes” or “no” once a word was completed.
“Of course I was nervous,” recalls Bouget. “But I thought to myself, ‘just spell the words.’”
Eagle Point Elementary School’s Alina Gasanova and Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School’s Isaac Allen, who tied for third, will join Goldstein and Bouget at the Capital Region Spelling Bee on Feb. 13 at Proctors Theatre in Schenectady.
“I want me or one of the other kids from our school district to win (at the Capital Region bee),” added Bouget.
Students in grades 4-8 competed first at the building level and those winners advanced to the district-wide competition.
The mission of the City School District of Albany is to educate and prepare all students for college and career, citizenship and life, in partnership with our diverse community. The district serves approximately 9,500 students in 18 elementary, middle and high schools. In addition to neighborhood schools, the district includes several magnet schools and programs, as well as other innovative academic opportunities for students, including four themed academies at Albany High School.
