A total of 51 foreign language students from Fayette’s public high schools medaled at the Clemson University 43rd annual Poetry Declamation Contest. The contest, presented by Clemson’s Department of Foreign Languages, gives students the opportunity to perform poetry in their language of study and receive feedback from leading language educators.
Participants perform two poems from memory, specified according to students’ level of language study. They are evaluated based on pronunciation, interpretation of text, smoothness of delivery, and textural accuracy.
David Martin from Starr’s Mill High is the school system’s first student to win in American Sign Language (ASL), taking first place at level B. He is also the second student in the competition’s history to ever take first place in ASL-B.
Fayette students swept three Spanish competitions. Anna Pate of Sandy Creek, Elizabeth Wright of McIntosh, and Providence Blalock of Starr’s Mill took first, second and third, respectively in Spanish 1A-1. Jacob Just-Buddy of Starr’s Mill, Philip Stout of Whitewater, and Dorothy Lai of McIntosh took first, second, and third, respectively, in Spanish 2A-4. Tim F. Hahn of Starr’s Mill, John St. Martin of Whitewater, and Hanna Greer of Whitewater took first, second, and third, respectively, in Spanish 2A-6.
Students from all five high schools earned first (19 total), second (18 total) and third (14 total) place awards in ASL, Chinese, French, German, Latin and Spanish. About 400 students from Georgia and South Carolina participated in the competition.
Below are the results.
ASL-B: David Martin of Starr’s Mill took first.
Chinese-Native: Arik Li of McIntosh took second.
French -1A-1: Samuel Navarro-Michel of Starr’s Mill took first.
French-1A-2: Emma Posey of Starr’s Mill and Sierra Gibson of Whitewater took first and third, respectively.
French -1A-3: William Hamson of Starr’s Mill took first.
French-2A-2: Emily Treon of Starr’s Mill took first.
French-2A-4: Madison Hagen of Starr’s Mill took first.
French-3A-1: Brian Dixon of Starr’s Mill took first.
French-3A-3: Tim F. Hahn of Starr’s Mill took first.
French-3A-4: Nicholas Martin of Starr’s Mill took third.
German-1A-1: Brian Dixon of Starr’s Mill took second.
German-2A: Jennifer St. Martin of Whitewater took third.
German-3A: Madison Hagen of Starr’s Mill took second.
German-3B: Nia Coulibaly of Sandy Creek took first.
German-4A: Logan Smith of Starr’s Mill took second.
Latin-1A-1: Claire Traylor of McIntosh High took third.
Latin-2A-2: Arik Li of McIntosh took second.
Spanish -1A-1: Anna Pate of Sandy Creek, Elizabeth Wright of McIntosh, and Providence Blalock of Starr’s Mill took first, second, and third, respectively.
Spanish-1A-2: Christa O’Reilly of McIntosh took third.
Spanish-1A-3: Adelyn Bousson of Whitewater took first.
Spanish-1A-4: Emily Blum of McIntosh took second.
Spanish-1B: Emily Bacallao of Whitewater took second.
Spanish-2A-1: Khusbu Patel of Whitewater High took first.
Spanish-2A-2: Alayna Burdekin of Starr’s Mill and Chirstopher Shimer of Whitewater took second and third, respectively.
Spanish-2A-3: Victoria E. Koontz of Starr’s Mill took second.
Spanish-2A-4: Jacob Just-Buddy of Starr’s Mill, Philip Stout of Whitewater, and Dorothy Lai of McIntosh took first, second, and third, respectively.
Spanish-2A-5: Jolie Riff of Whitewater High took second.
Spanish-2A-6: Tim F. Hahn of Starr’s Mill, John St. Martin of Whitewater, and Hanna Greer of Whitewater took first, second, and third, respectively.
Spanish-3A-1: Joshua Baker of Fayette County and Cressie Rynne of McIntosh took first and third, respectively.
Spanish-3A-2: McKay Moore of McIntosh took second.
Spanish-3A-3: Taylor Milligan of Starr’s Mill and Anika Gouhl of Whitewater took first and third, respectively.
Spanish-3A-4: Quynh Phan of Starr’s Mill and Michael Carter of Fayette County took first and second, respectively.
Spanish-3A-5: Isabel Henares of Fayette County and Samuel Ellis of McIntosh took first and third, respectively.
Spanish-3A-6: Vyom Shah of McIntosh took first.
Spanish-3B: Ximena Bejarano of Starr’s Mill took second.
Spanish-4A-1: Mariah Barabe of McIntosh and Jennifer St. Martin of Whitewater took first and second, respectively.
Spanish-4A-4: Matthew Skibiel of Whitewater took third.
Spanish-Native-1: Marissa H. Hollingsworth of Starr’s Mill took second.
