Oral Language Festival fun

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Olive Drive Elementary's Hannah Contois had dreams of a new graduation dress before her brother broke his arm in this winning Oral Language Festival Serious Solo performance.

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Warren Jr. High's Hafsa Shurbaji and Yasmine Suleiman were feeling their roles on the way to a second place finish in the 7th-8th grade Humorous Duo performances.

Olive Drive Elementary School's Hannah Contois put herself into character, picking the right piece of literature and theme, to earn one of the first place awards at the 37th annual Kern County Oral Language Festival held Feb. 23 at Standard School District in Bakersfield. As it turned out, Contois' choice in the 4th-6th grade Serious Solo Interpretation category was kind of a mirror of the way she approaches making decisions in her life. It was about a girl who sacrificed money saved for a graduation dress so her mother could pay to have her brother's broken arm fixed. Last year Contois finished third in the same category, but it did not deter her from trying again this year.

“How did I prepare for it,” Contois asked. “I just put myself in the position of the character I portrayed and imagined what it would feel like. As soon as I was her, it all fell into place, and I knew I could do it.”

The 192 students in grades 4-8 who competed in the Oral Language Festival came from 21 school districts and 47 schools in Kern County, representing approximately 38,000 of their classmates. Each performance had to be an original interpretation of a literary work. The literature had to be a published work available to all students. Participants displayed talents in one of five interpretive categories: Serious Solo and Duo, Humorous Solo and Duo and Verse Choir (which featured at least three but no more than eight students reciting in unison in small group parts).

“Giving an oral presentation is a difficult and commendable task,” said event organizer Teresa Twisselman, Kern County Superintendent of Schools' English and language arts coordinator. “Each student presenting today can be proud of his or her accomplishment.”

Awards to grades 4-6 finalists were presented in the Standard School Auditorium, following completion of the morning competition. Afterwards, first place winners delivered encore performances. The Finalists were:

Serious Solo Interpretation -- Grades 4-6

1st - Hannah Contois -- Olive Drive Elementary

2nd - Lauren Clarksean -- St. Francis School

3rd - Georgie Duboise -- Alicante Avenue School

Humorous Solo Interpretation -- Grades 4-6

1st - Jessica Druey -- Hart School

2nd - Jeannette Calderon -- Thorner School

3rd - Davied Williams -- Plantation School

Serious Duo Interpretation -- Grades 4-6

1st - Leah House and Mary Garza -- Sing Lum School

2nd - Mitchell Nelson and Taylor Sheldon -- Norris Middle

3rd - Jordin Martinez and Kirsten Watkins -- Thorner School

Humorous Duo Interpretation -- Grades 4-6

1st - Hana Ayoub and Jessica Ricketts -- Bimat Elementary

2nd - Riley Helgren and Sophia Busacca -- Independence Elementary

3rd - Cole Frayne and Walker Frayne -- Thorner School

Verse Choir Interpretation -- Grades 4-6

1st - Benjamin Alegre, Mikaeel Kazmi, Nizam Khan, Samuel Lang and Rami Suleiman -- Reagan School

2nd - Scott Barksdale, Conrad Dalton, Hayden Dalton, Chad Ferrera, Nick Millan, Maddie Reyneveld, Paige Smith and Rylee Smith -- Discovery Elementary

3rd - Lexy Girado, Chandler Hilken, Noah Holle, Hope Johnsen, Jayne Morris, Faith Sandman, Kameron Theodore and Brandon Vincent -- St. John's Lutheran

When the seventh and eighth-graders took to the stage for the afternoon session, there were still plenty of great interpretive performances to see. Actis Jr. High's Emily Norris and Cambria Bank had the audience laughing out loud in their Humorous Duo interpretation of the sacrifices daughters take on when their mother decides to diet. What made the performance work was the timing of the two, knowing when to jump in at just the right moment with a clever phrase or an unarming gesture.

“We had been working on this since September, and, although we didn't win, it was an enjoyable experience learning how to anticipate each others moves and lines.”

“We learned a lot about speaking patterns from our teacher, too, who pointed out Americans drop the 'd' and 't' sounds a lot in normal speech,” Bank added. “So, we really worked hard on making sure we pronounced each letter the way it was intended to be heard.”

First place winners in grades 7-8 also presented encore performances after accepting their awards in the afternoon session. First, second and third place finalists were:

Serious Solo Interpretation -- Grades 7-8

1st - Caitlin Bransby -- Fruitvale Jr. High

2nd - Simran Grewal -- Thompson Jr. High

3rd - Brooke Dickens -- Warren Jr. High

Humorous Solo Interpretation -- Grades 7-8

1st - Cruise Adams -- Our Lady of Perpetual Help

2nd - Ryan Allford -- Fruitvale Jr. High

3rd - Peris Williams -- Warren Jr. High

Serious Duo Interpretation -- Grades 7-8

1st - Taylor DeBoer and Megan Cullor -- St. Francis School

2nd - Kelsey Brewer and Torrey Halbert -- Norris Middle

3rd - Jasmine Gonzalez and Stephanie Torres -- Thompson Jr. High

Humorous Duo Interpretation -- Grades 7-8

1st - Yeovanny Laveaga and Jose Tenorio -- Edison Middle

2nd - Hafsa Shurbaji and Yasmine Suleiman -- Warren Jr. High

3rd - Mark Patterson and Brandon Magno -- Lakeside School

Verse Choir Interpretation -- Grades 7-8

1st - Kristin Dermer, Monica Diaz, Katie Ebel, Janalise Gregor, Chelsea Lowes and Sarah Ruiz -- Our Lady of Perpetual Help

2nd - Gabby Melendez, Torrey Soland and Whitney Strong -- Downtown Elementary

3rd - Sam Blackhurst, Dylan Faulkner, Wade Hickey, Tyler Kirklin and Chance Marchini -- Chipman Jr. High

The Kern County Oral Language Festival is presented each year by the Kern County Superintendent of Schools Office.


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