Sprachfest participants from Waldorf School German students in grades 7-12 took part in the 17th Annual Long Island Sprachfest, in which students compete in subjects ranging from spelling, vocabulary and culture to folk dancing, poetry recitation and gingerbread house construction. This year's competition was held on March 18 at Hauppauge High School with over 500 students from eighteen schools in attendance. An exciting start for Waldorf, the event began with all participants wearing the official Sprachfest t-shirt designed by Grace Park (11th), who won last years t-shirt design competition. Over all, Waldorf earned six 1st place awards, four 2nd place awards and one 3rd place award.

Four 7th graders, Brendan Fogarty of Garden City, Sean Proctor, Yeon-Ju Ham and Deanna Bertini, tied with Garden City Middle School for first place in the 7th/8th grade Culture Bowl.

The freshmen also performed strongly throughout the day. Joe Yuan, Brian Lindsay, Abby McGlone, and Taisha Thomas won 1st place in the 9th grade scrabble competition, while Orin Stuckenbruck won 2nd place in the Level I Vocabulary Bee.

Representing the sophomores, Tarik French and Cory Rosenberg entertained audiences with a performance that earned 2nd place in the 9th/10th grade musical instrument competition, while Noah Heau tied for 1st place in the Level II Vocabulary Bee. Grades nine and ten also joined forces and performed a German folk dance providing their own live music with a six-piece band.

Grace Park continued her artistic winning streak, claiming 1st place in both the cover design and poster design competitions, both of which were open to all 500+ Sprachfest participants. Grace's win in the cover design competition means that her design will be the cover of next year's event pamphlet.

Impressive poetry recitation by juniors Chris Smalley of Garden City and Claire Lyons of Garden City brought them 2nd and 3rd place in the 11th/12th grade competition. Claire Lyons, Beth Foster (11th), Chris Smalley, and Sarah Yoon (11th) took 2nd place in the 11th/12th grade Cultural Bowl.

In addition to the competitive events, students also had the opportunity to enjoy and share their interest in German language and culture through movies, games, food and conversation.

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.