Students Win Big At Sprachfest

First-place geography bee winners Colleen Way and William Slattery Congratulations to the 50 seventh- and eighth-grade Garden City German students who participated in the annual German Language Sprachfest held on Saturday, March 18 at Hauppauge High School. Garden City came out first among middle schools, bringing home a total of 11 first-place awards in individual and group events, 10 in second-place, and four in third.

A day-long series of competitions, the Sprachfest is organized and implemented by the Long Island Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of German. It highlights the German language and culture in events that include cookie and cake baking using specific German recipes, original gingerbread house creations, poster, T-shirt and program designs, as well as publications. There is folk dancing, and there are vocal and instrumental performances of works by German, Austrian or Swiss composers, as well as spelling, vocabulary, number and geography bees, and German-language Scrabble. The German language is also heard in skits, poetry recitation and in the most difficult contests - the Junior and Senior Culture bowls. There are rooms set aside for non-competitive events where students can create crafts, or a Sprecheck or "speaking corner," where students can carry on a conversation in German with a native speaker. They can play basketball or indoor soccer, or watch German-language movies, as well. This year, a Fussball Klinik in German was offered by Dr. Frank Schnur. (Dr. Schnur recently trained two members of the U.S. national soccer tam at Fordham University.)

Blue ribbon instrumental group performing Schools in both Nassau and Suffolk Counties take part in the Sprachfest . This year, the attending schools were: Accompsett Middle School, Chaminade High School, Commack Middle School, Garden City Middle and High Schools, Great Hollow Middle School, Harborfields High School, Hauppauge Middle and High Schools, Hicksville Middle and High Schools, Nesaquake Middle School, Northport High School, Rocky Point High School, Sachem High School, Smithtown Middle School and East and West High Schools, The Waldorf School, and Ward Melville High School. Judges include teachers, graduate students and professors from Long Island colleges and universities and local units of the Steuben Society.

Spelling Bee winners Eleni Andromidas and Jonathan Derlath Here are the winners...First prizes in baking went to Marissa Burdi for her Butterkuchen , to Mike McConnell for his Frankfurterkranz , and to Sarah Schlichte for her Mandelhalbmonde. Sarah Schlichte also placed second for there Butterkuchen, Pfeffernsse, and Frankfurterkranz, and Katie Reilly and Gabe Mollica for their Obsttorte . Eleni Andromidas was awarded third prize for her Gewurzpltzchen. Ryan Minett and Jack Butler took first-place for their gingerbread house and scene representing Schiller's Wilhelm Tell.

Seventh-graders Abby Eschmann and Erin Kenny In poetry, seventh-graders Colleen Way and Lauren Williams won first place in group recitation. The spelling bee winners were seventh-grader Brendan Logan and eighth-grader Jonathan Derlath, both of whom took second place, and Eleni Andromidas, also in eighth grade, who won third. Second prizes in the eighth-grade vocabulary bee went to Kate Odell and Ashish Rihal. The blue ribbon winner of the new seventh-grade number bee was James Polke; fellow seventh-grader Griffin Eilbeck won second prize. Kevin Shulman won first prize on the eighth-grade level. Our German-language Scrabble team took third. Team members were Kate Odell, Gabe Mollica, Erik Philippou, and Conor Schmid.

Competitors Paul Gill, Sarah Schlichte and Ashish Rihal The geography bee requires knowledge of the four German-speaking countries in Europe, including their cities, lakes, mountain ranges, seas and so on. The first-prize winners on the seventh-grade level shared a three-way tie. They were William Slattery, Dan Miller, and Colleen Way. Seventh-grader Brian Cunningham won third place. Garden City also had two winners on the eighth-grade level: Ryan Minett and Ray Boudart.

First-place geography winner Dan Miller and family All seven members of Garden City's Culture Bowl team were prepared to defend their first-place title. Only four could actually stand in the competition, and the male members, who were in several other events, generously deferred to the female. Garden City Middle School took the blue in the play-offs and tied for first in the final, giving them a one point win over the tough competition from Waldorf. This year's champions are Emily Werner, Lauren Sullivan, Colleen Donnelly, Kelly Allen, Ryan Minett, Ray Boudart and Jonathan Derlath.

Garden City's success in the music competitions was once again due to the generosity of the Middle School music department. Seventh-graders Katie Herbst, Liz Lisoki, Kaitlin Newlin-Wagner and Emma Volz won second prize in vocal music. They sang "Evening Prayer" from the opera Hansel und Gretel by Humperdinck. Eight eighth-graders joined forces for the instrumental competition. Jack Butler, Jonathan Derlath, Colleen Donnelly, Mike McConnell, Gary Malfa, Ryan Minett, Sarah Schlichte and Emily Werner performed a piece from von Weber's Der Freischtz. The group thanked Mrs. Kleemann and Mr. Mayo for the vocal help, and Mrs. Boonshaft for the many Wednesday morning lessons.

Kevin Shulman after his first-place win Frau Hecker and her students would like to thank all the parents who helped to transport baked goods, art work and instruments, and all those who came to lend their support.

Eighth-grade spellers Meghan Alford, Liz Cavanaugh, Shannon Defliese and Kate Odell

Ray Boudart with his Fussball Klinik certificate Jack Butler and Ryan Minett with their prize-winning gingerbread scene First-place winner Mike McConnell First-prize poetry winners Lauren Williams and Colleen Way Messrs. Polke and Cunningham with sons James Polke, Brian Cunningham and friend William Slattery Prize-winning cousins Brendan Logan and Kelly Allen