Foreign language students across all five Fayette high schools racked up a total of 79 placements at Clemson University’s 44th annual Poetry Declamation Contest. That is a 35 percent increase over the 51 placements earned by students last year.
Not only did the students top last year’s overall placements, but they also increased the first place victories by 40 percent, taking 32 top honors in American Sign Language (ASL), Chinese, French, German, Latin, and Spanish.
Also, they had six total sweeps, double the number from last year, taking first, second and third place honors in one category of ASL and five categories of Spanish.
In addition to the 32 first-place victories, students earned 25 second-place and 22 third-place awards. Out of the 65 total language categories in the competition, Fayette’s students had placements in all but 19 categories.
Presented by Clemson’s Department of Foreign Languages, the poetry declamation contest 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.
Below are the results.
ASL-A
First place, Claire Mossman, Starr’s Mill High School
Second place, Jennifer Bradshaw, Starr’s Mill High School
Third place, Zaria Sweeting, Starr’s Mill High School
CHINESE-2B
First place, Shi Ho Kim, McIntosh High School
Third place Jonathan Zhang, McIntosh High School
FRENCH-1A-1
Second place, Marina Foster, Starr’s Mill High School
Third place, John Skibiel, Whitewater High School
FRENCH-1A-2
First place, Biankah Destin, Starr’s Mill High School
Third place, Ava Kreitner, McIntosh High School
FRENCH-1A-3
First place, Rommy Sierra, Starr’s Mill High School
Second place, Sarah Goins, Starr’s Mill High School
Third place, Lia Hill, McIntosh High School
FRENCH-2A-1
Second place, Lucy Symonds, Whitewater High School
FRENCH-2A-2
First place, Emma Posey, Starr’s Mill High School
FRENCH-2A-3
Second place, Samuel Navarro Michel, Starr’s Mill High School
FRENCH-3A-1
Second place, Madison Hagen, Starr’s Mill High School
Third place, Emily Treon, Starr’s Mill High School
FRENCH-3A-3
Third place, Morgan Ford, Whitewater High School
FRENCH-4A-1
First place, Madeleine Childress, Starr’s Mill High School
Third place, Jacqueline Caballero Cruz, Fayette County High School
FRENCH-4A-2
First place, Matthew Skibiel, Whitewater High School
Second place, Brian Dixon, Starr’s Mill High School
FRENCH-4A-3
First place, Tim Hahn, Starr’s Mill High School
Second place, Oluwatofunmi Bamiro, Starr’s Mill High School
GERMAN-1A-1
First place, Carisma Carrington, Whitewater High School
GERMAN-2A-1
First place, Hannah Kreuziger, Whitewater High School
GERMAN-2A-2
First place, Brandon Worrell, Sandy Creek High School
GERMAN-3A
Second place, Kayla Christ, Starr’s Mill High School
GERMAN-4A
First place, Madison Hagen, Starr’s Mill High School
GERMAN-NATIVE
First place, Tim Hahn, Starr’s Mill High School
LATIN-1A
First place, Katherine Mitchell, McIntosh High School
LATIN-2A-1
Second place, Sylvie Call, McIntosh High School
Third place, Claire Traylor, McIntosh High School
LATIN-3A-1
First place, Arik Li, McIntosh High School
SPANISH-1A-4
Third place, Naholin Rodriguez, McIntosh High School
SPANISH-1A-6
Second place, Caleb Cordier, Whitewater High School
SPANISH-2A-1
First place, Dhanush Avva, McIntosh High School
Third place, Alexander Sobczak, Starr’s Mill High School
SPANISH-2A-2
First place, Julliana Magat, Starr’s Mill High School
Third place, Danielle Ball, Whitewater High School
SPANISH-2A-3
Second place, Hannah Yokosawa, Starr’s Mill High School
Third place, Yukimi Ueda, Starr’s Mill High School
SPANISH-2A-5
First place, Shi Ho Kim, McIntosh High School
Second place, Adelyn Bousson, Whitewater High School
SPANISH-2A-6
First place, Saijleen Chawla, Starr’s Mill High School
Third place, Caroline Carle, Starr’s Mill High School
SPANISH-2A-7
Second place, Virginia Jackson, Starr’s Mill High School
SPANISH-2A-8
First place, Erin Pham, Starr’s Mill High School
Third place, Naafi’ah Hennie, Whitewater High School
SPANISH-2B
First place, Aaron Blanchard, Whitewater High School
Second place, Christina Whitehead, Whitewater High School
SPANISH-3A-1
First place, Jacob Just-Buddy, Starr’s Mill High School
Second place, Anna Seville, McIntosh High School
SPANISH-3A-2
First place, Katherine Mitchell, McIntosh High School
Second place, Josh Krivanek, McIntosh High School
Third place, Derico Blalock, Starr’s Mill High School
SPANISH-3A-3
First place, Isiah Jojola, Fayette County High School
Second place, Clay Lawhead, McIntosh High School
Third place, Austin Duncan, Whitewater High School
SPANISH-3A-4
Third place, Gwyneth Rodriguez, McIntosh High School
SPANISH-3A-5
Second place, Hamza Ahmed, Whitewater High School
SPANISH-3A-6
First place, Kennedy Marsh, McIntosh High School
Second place, John Skibiel, Whitewater High School
SPANISH-3A-7
First place, Alayna Burdekin, Starr’s Mill High School
Second place, John St. Martin, Whitewater High School
Third place, Jaylen Tindal, Whitewater High School
SPANISH-3B
First place, Alanys Rivera, McIntosh High School
Second place, Yocelyn Alvarado, McIntosh High School
SPANISH-4A-1
First place, Vyom Shah, McIntosh High School
Second place, Matthew Skibiel, Whitewater High School
SPANISH-4A-2
First place, Kristen Huffstutler, McIntosh High School
Third place, Cade Gosser, McIntosh High School
SPANISH-4A-3
First place, Ryan Hartman, McIntosh High School
Second place, Kalie Ward, McIntosh High School
SPANISH-4B
First place, Ximena Bejarano, Starr’s Mill High School
SPANISH-NATIVE-1
First place, Samantha Vaquero, McIntosh High School
Third place, Nancy Gallegos-Rivera, Fayette County High School
SPANISH-NATIVE-2
Second place, Raquel Baston, McIntosh High School
Third place, Fernanda De la Mora, McIntosh High School
