Four of Renbrook’s competitors, including a first-place medalist, were from West Hartford.

From left: August Berklas of Farmington, Alex Ellis of Farmington, Sydney Gregg of West Hartford, Ellie Feltovic of Simsbury, Emily Goodwin of Farmington, Claire Lovas of West Hartford, Dominic Bellido of Hartford, Alexandra D’Addabbo of West Hartford, Ashley Chung of West Hartford, and Henry Katkavich of Farmington. Submitted photo

Submitted by Stacy Routhier, Renbrook School

For 34 years, schools in Connecticut have awarded thousands of certificates to World Language students who have participated in the Annual Poetry Recitation Contests sponsored by the Connecticut Council of Language Teachers (CT COLT), an organization composed of language teachers from most schools in Connecticut. This year’s event, which took place April 6 at East Haven High School, hosted approximately 600 students from 52 schools.

This year, eleven students from Renbrook competed in the event: Dominic Bellido of Hartford (Spanish HS Heritage Speaker), August Berklas of Farmington (Spanish MS Heritage Speaker), Adison Brown of Bloomfield (Spanish HS 1), Ashley Chung of West Hartford  (ESOL HS Advanced), Alexandra D’Addabbo of West Hartford (French MS 2), Alexander Ellis of Farmington ( Latin MS 2), Elizabeth Feltovic of Simsbury (French HS 1), Emily Goodwin of Farmington (Spanish MS 1), Sydney Gregg of West Hartford (French MS Heritage Speaker), Henry Katkavich of Farmington (Latin MS 1) and Claire Lovas of West Hartford (French MS 1).

Four of the participants won medals for their recitations: Ashley Chung (First Place for ESOL HS Advanced), Emily Goodwin (First Place for Spanish MS 1), Alexander Ellis (Third Place for Latin MS 2) and Elizabeth Feltovic (Third Place for French HS 1). We are so proud of all our participants! Their enthusiasm for and dedication to language learning are unsurpassed!

They competed in 16 languages including American Sign Language (ASL), Ancient Greek, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, English Language Learners (ESOL/ELL), French, German, Modern Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Italian, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Students prepared their poem recitations at school. Poems for Middle School and Level HS1 had between 10 – 20 lines. All other levels had no less than 14 nor more than 30 lines.

Students were judged in four areas: memorization, diction, interpretation, and body language. Latin and Ancient Greek poetry had to be recited according to the classical metrics. In some of the languages, students selected poems from a predetermined slate, while in other languages students were free to select a poem of their choice.

The following categories were judged: Middle School, beginning and continuing; High School levels 1-6; Heritage Speakers (MS and HS) for students of Arabic, Mandarin Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Hindi, Modern Greek, Italian, Japanese, Latin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish. Latin and Ancient Greek students did not have the latter category. American Sign Language students included hearing and hearing impaired anywhere from one year to three years or more. ESOL students included high beginner, intermediate, and advanced for Middle School and High School.

There were up to three prizes for each level of each language. All participants were awarded certificates of participation.