Waldorf School Participates in Sprachfest

(L-R) Tenth grade Sprachfest participants, Grace Park and Charles Rawlins Students taking German in grades 7-12 at The Waldorf School took part in the 16th Annual Long Island Sprachfest held on Saturday, March 5 at Commack Middle School. More than 450 students from eighteen schools on Long Island competed in this years Sprachfest. The Waldorf students were well prepared, earning eleven 1st place awards, seven 2nd place awards, one 3rd place award and an Honorable Mention. A year from now several hundred students attending next years Sprachfest will be wearing the 2006 event T-shirt designed by Waldorf tenth grade student Grace Park who won first place in the T-shirt design category.

Seventh graders from The Waldorf School participated at the Sprachfest competition for the first time. Jason Cohen, Abby Lyons, Courtney Hobbs and Catherine Kleint, earned first place for group poetry, Tahir French achieved second place for spelling and Mary Catelli placed second for individual poetry recitation.

The eighth grade students were able to show their strengths in several areas. Baking a good Gugelhopf is an art. Congratulations to Christina Butigian for winning first place and to Meagan Gallagher and Abby McGlone for winning second place. Die Geteilte Ernte, a humorous skit written by the grade eight class teacher, Mrs. Uta Taylor-Weaver, and performed by Brian Lindsay, Peter Olynciw, Mackenzie Wenner and Rami Ismail earned a first place award. Congratulations to Daniel Lindsay, new to the study of German this year, for winning first place in the individual poetry competition. Christina Butigian received an honorable mention in the same category. Taisha Thomas, Meagan Gallagher, Dylan Mustapich and Brian Lindsay placed third in the Scrabble contest. The entire eighth grade German class performed Haydn's Kindersimfonie on recorder and percussion instruments and was awarded second place. The eighth grade students who performed are: Christina Butigian, Meagan Gallagher, Rami Ismail, Alena Jones, Brian Lindsay, Abigail McGlone, Dylan Mustapich, Peter Olynciw, Matthew Rivera, Gillian Silva, Orin Stuckenbruck, Taisha Thomas, Mackenzie Wenner and Joseph Yuan.

The ninth grade had nearly total participation and enjoyed a strong showing at the Fest. Nicole Ortiz won first place in the vocabulary bee and Noah Heau received second place in the same category. Tarik French held his ground for over fifteen minutes before giving way to a competitor from another school. The winning participants in the ninth grade culture bowl were Cory Rosenberg, Julianne Bertini, Kristi Visser and Victoria Scarfone.

The tenth grade German class won first place in the group recitation for Es Klappert der Bach, and Charles Rawlins received first prize for spelling and second prize for his strong knowledge of the geography of central Europe.

The twelfth grade class focused on the culture bowl and Melissa Yanovitch, Laura Streeter, Guang-Yi Chua and Joanna Dorman, tied for first place. Enzio Goble and Guang-Yi Chua enthralled a large audience with a violin and cello duet for which they won first place in the music category.

There were many non-competitive events and activities throughout the day, giving students the opportunity to meet their peers from other schools and share their interest in German.

For more information about the Waldorf School, please visit www.walforfgarden.org, or call 516.742.3434. The Waldorf School of Garden City is located at 225 Cambridge Avenue adjacent to Adelphi University.