The Clemson Language Department held its 50th poetry declamation contest on Saturday, Oct. 21.
The contest included middle school and high school students from North Carolina, South
Carolina and Georgia. Competitors prepared poems published by popular poets and recited them in front of judges in the language of their choice. The languages represented were American Sign Language, Chinese, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Russian and Spanish.
All available faculty of the Language Department were involved and were judges or helped keep an eye on things.
“On the students’ side, they learn a very different aspect of the language, and they learn how to interpret poems, which is a high form of the language and art,” director Su-I Chen said. “On the high school teachers’ side, they encourage students to participate to gain confidence in language learning and poetry presentation.
“Teachers and students are very excited to visit our beautiful campus and know more about what we can offer. We did have students who applied to Clemson because of this event and got in. For the Languages Department, this is the biggest event we have to promote modern language learning. For many students, this is their experience to see people at their age learning different languages.”
The contests were held in the classrooms in Daniel Hall, with only the judges and participants present. So, while family and friends were waiting, campus tours were available.
The Language Department awarded first through third place in each category.
ASL-A: Rylan Cullum of South Carolina Association of Independent Home Schools
CHINESE-1A: Sharon Sim of Christ Church Episcopal School
CHINESE-2B: Darren Lin of Christ Church Episcopal School
CHINESE-3A: Fitz Keller of Christ Church Episcopal School
CHINESE-3B: Sophia Jarboe of Holy Innocents’ Episcopal School
FRENCH-1A-1: Jackeline Zamora-Guzman of Whitewater High School
FRENCH-1A-2: Isla Knight of Christ Church Episcopal School
FRENCH-2A-1: Serenity Maxwell of Whitewater High School
FRENCH-2A-2: Malik Worrell of Whitewater High School
FRENCH-3A-1: Shihyun Park of Starr’s Mill High School
FRENCH-3A-2: Cheryl Jerald of South Forsyth High School
FRENCH-3B: Sebastien Salamin of Christ Church Episcopal School
FRENCH-4A-1: MK Williams of James Island Charter High School
FRENCH-4A-2: Hutch Lyman of Christ Church Episcopal School
FRENCH-4B: Abigail Lopuszynski of Denmark High School
FRENCH-Native: Tolga Bilgis of James Island Charter High School
GERMAN-1A: Lily Collard of Walhalla High School
GERMAN-2A: Anish Raja of South Forsyth High School
GERMAN-3A: Samprokshana Karthikeyan of D. W. Daniel High School
GERMAN-4A: Ida Ghazal of South Forsyth High School
GERMAN-4B: Jayden Brannon of South Forsyth High School
ITALIAN-1A: Mimi Smoak of James Island Charter High School
JAPANESE-1A: Tolga Bilgis of James Island Charter High School
JAPANESE-2B: Aiden Barney of SC Japanese Heritage Language School
JAPANESE- 3B: Hanna Barney of SC Japanese Heritage Language School
JAPANESE-4B: Sophia Horne of SC Japanese Heritage Language School
JAPANESE NATIVE: Hannah Izumi of J.L. Mann High School
LATIN-1A: Zedrik Curabo of Fairfield Middle School
LATIN-2A: Christa Evans of Fairfield Middle School
LATIN-3A: Isabella Kanos of Christ Church Episcopal School
RUSSIAN NATIVE: Samira Mazunina of James Island Charter High School
SPANISH-1A-1: Fiona Huang of McIntosh High School
SPANISH-1A-2: Faith Scafe of McIntosh High School
SPANISH-1A-3: Jack Toomey of Christ Church Episcopal School
SPANISH-1A-4: Mieyoshi Gross of Fayette County High School
SPANISH-2A-1: Regina Aguegue of Fayette County High School
SPANISH-2A-2: Sreehaasini Jakkaraju of Denmark High School
SPANISH- 2A-3: Cydney Fox of McIntosh High School
SPANISH-2A-4: Nitya Valiveti of Denmark High School
SPANISH-2A-5: Keyaan Budhwani of McIntosh High School
SPANISH-2A-6: Rosselaira Cruz of McIntosh High School
SPANISH-2A-7: Umunatu King of Whitewater High School
SPANISH-3A-1: Noelle Boyd of Sandy Creek High School
SPANISH-3A-2: Mahika Kumar of McIntosh High School
SPANISH-3A-3: Jennifer Okudo of Fayette County High School
SPANISH-3A-4: Georgia Weaver of McIntosh High School
SPANISH-3A-5: Om Khasnis of McIntosh High School
SPANISH-3B: Samuel Levy of Christ Church Episcopal School
SPANISH-4A-1: Ishita Aher of Denmark High School
SPANISH-4A-2: Kinsley Bitner of Christ Church Episcopal School
SPANISH-4A-3: Sophia Farinacci of McIntosh High School
SPANISH-4A-4: Ellie Shelton of McIntosh High School
SPANISH-4A-5: Andreas Toney of Grovetown High School
SPANISH-4B-1: Sebastián Waecker of Christ Church Episcopal School
SPANISH-4B-2: Ben Williamson of Christ Church Episcopal School
SPANISH-NATIVE-1: Paula Wellard of Grovetown High School
SPANISH-NATIVE-2: Daniela Byer-Lopez of Northview High School
SPANISH-NATIVE-3: Stacy Romero of Grovetown High School
