By ABAGAIL EVERETT – This past Saturday, March 25, 2017, many students from Indiana High School spent the day on IUP’s campus to celebrate and show off their language skills at the Appalachian Language Educators’ 28th Annual Foreign Language Festival (APPLES) festival. It’s been a popular event since 1989.
French teacher Mr. James Dykun commented, “It’s an opportunity for students to use language outside of the classroom for personal enjoyment and show off how much they know. I think the competitive aspect motivates the kids to practice and learn their language. It’s a great showcase of skills, whether academic or nonacademic. I enjoy seeing students excited to spend eight hours on a Saturday participating and having fun with a language and giving up their free time for enrichment. It’s very uplifting.”
“I judged speaking and drama this year,” he continued, “and it’s awesome to see all of the activities. It’s really hard to choose winners; there’s so much good work.”
Students grades 9-12 from other schools in Southwestern PA are also invited to attend and participate in the event.
Among the particpants are India Krug, Layan Jouhari, Sydney Jones, Jacob Christian, Hannah Colen, Madison Barker, and many others.
Junior exchange student Tin Siridet, who played piano for the competition commented, “It’s a good event. I like it. We don’t have foreign language competitions in Thailand. It’s great to see a lot of activities going on and have a new, good experience. A lot of people come from other schools which is cool too. I felt nervous to play my piece from Amelie, but I think I did pretty well.”
Many categories of competition were offered to students, including speaking, listening, reading, writing, literary recitation, original and reproduction art, t-shirt design, model construction, vocal and instrumental music, drama, and dance.
Indiana brought home a few wins, including 3rd place in French 1 Reading from Audra Moore, 2nd place in French 2 Vocal Music by India Krug, 2nd place Reading in French 5 from Hannah Colen.
In French,
5 – reading – 2nd – Hannah Colen
2 – music vocal – 2nd – India Krug
1 – reading – 3rd – Audra Moore
In Spanish,
Composition:
1 – 1st – Layan Jouhari
2 – 2nd – Amelia Kuzneski
3 – 3rd – Shane Moran
Reading:
2 – 2nd – Maggie Conjelko
3 – 1st tie – Shane Moran
Listening:
1 – 1st – Layan Jouhari
2 – 2nd – Maggie Conjelko
3 – 2nd – Madeline Kipp – 1st tied – Shane Moran
Speaking:
2 – 2nd – Maggie Conjelko – 1st – Hannah Wick
Literary Recitation:
2 – 2nd – Abby Massingale
3 – 2nd – Madeline Kipp
Vocal Music:
2nd – India Krug
3rd – Halle Angelo
Construction Model:
3rd – Josh Killam
Art Reproduction:
2nd – Amelia Kuzneski
Paintings, both original and reproductions, are displayed on the wall between Mrs. McAnulty’s and Mr. Dykun’s rooms.
[Photo courtesy of Mr. Dan Murphy]
