Local Students Take Top Honors in World Languages Competition at UW

Junior high and high school students from throughout the state showcased their language talents during the annual World Languages Day March 3-4 at the University of Wyoming.

The annual event provides Wyoming’s world languages students a chance to demonstrate their linguistic talents in judged competitions; convene with other language enthusiasts; and exposes them to 12 diverse language workshops hosted by UW faculty and graduate students. More than 250 Wyoming students participated.

UW’s Department of Modern and Classical Languages sponsored the event, and UW faculty members conducted the rotating language workshops, which represent Arabic, Arapaho, Chinese, Creole, French, German, Haitian, Hebrew, Japanese, Latin, Russian and Spanish.

Modern and classical languages Lecturer Yan Zhang, and Mollie Hand, the department’s academic adviser, were co-directors of World Languages Day.

“World Languages Day gives visiting students a chance to compete within their language level, learn about UW, discover other languages and cultures, and hopefully make lifelong friendships with others throughout the state,” Hand says.

Listed are the place winners by category and the schools they represented:

Campbell County High School

Meagan Barnes, Chinese Level 4 Individual, first place; Raquel Aquino and Thamyres dos Santos, ESL Group, first place; Alisa Roll, German Level 2 Individual, first place; Bridget McMurray, German Level 2 Individual, second place; Sierra Even, Maureen Ransone and Courtney Sprinkle, German Level 3 Group, first place; Kaitlyn Allen, Chase Cates, Liz Keeney and Alexus Pierce, German Level 4 Group, first place; Ashlyn Shook, Spanish Level 2 Individual, second place; Makayla Orr, Spanish Level 2 Individual, third place; Luz Cardona, Blanca Gonzalez, Elvia Gonzalez, Elizabeth Pelayo, Andrea Medina and Jennifer Sotelo, Spanish Level 4 Group, third place; Jennifer Sotelo, People’s Choice 3-D Artwork, first place.

CY Middle School, Casper

Dolores Neumiller, German Level 1 Individual, first place; Jerico Deal, German Level 1 Individual, third place; Simeon Forsman, Spanish Level 1 Individual, second place; Sierra DePaemelere, Spanish Level 1 Individual, third place; Elaine Berdahl and Emily Robinson, Spanish Level 2 Group, first place; Kelsie Dickerson and Isabelle Hanson, Spanish Level 2 Group, second place.

Cheyenne East High School

Kaleb Moseby, French Level 1, second place; Bre Rosner, French Level 1, third place; Cheyenne Farris, Elizabeth Haleakala, Tavia Packard and Rosner, French Level 1 Group, first place; Ginger McCormick, Irena Sellers, Moseby and Keeda VanKirk, French Level 1 Group, second place; Braden Smith, Hannah Firos, Jakob Dobson and Braeden Steward, French Level 2 Group, first place; Sellers, French Level 3 Individual, first place; Kelly Marston, French Level 3 Individual, second place; Maeve Knepper, French Level 3 Individual, third place; Alexandria Rinne, Level 4/5 Individual, second place; Sylvia Shanklin, Level 4/5 Individual, third place; Shelby Albright, Sydney Jefferson, Marston, Fallon Norford, Zane Dobler, Alexandria Rinne and Shanklin, Level 3/4 Group, first place.

Cody High School

Claire Pfister, French Level 2 Individual, first place; Cody Beckett, French Level 2 Individual, second place; Elise Seuferer, French Level 2 Individual, third place; Kaden Bollinger and Hannah Heinrich, French Level 3/4 Group, second place; and Emmalee Beardall and Joseph Cross, Spanish Level 2 Group, third place.

Davis Middle School, Evanston

Allyson Sawyer, Spanish Level 1 Individual, first place; Ryan Baldwin, Jayda Ellis, Ahir Krish, Cora Hatch, Taylor Petersen, Elizabeth Horrocks, Allie Pace, Sydney Lyman, Kathryn Williams, Kambree Brown, Heidi Barton, Logan Robinson, Jarod Stahl and Sawyer, Spanish Level 1 Group, second place; and Petersen, People’s Choice 2-D Artwork, first place.

Evanston High School

Gricelda Pu Tum, ESL Level 1 Individual, first place; Dulce Aldana, ESL Level 3 Individual, first place; Daneane Sathers and Rhys Forsgren, Spanish Level 3 Group, second place; and Judith Sanchez, Spanish Level 5 Individual, first place.

Evanston Middle School

Miguel Mendoza, ESL Level 2 Individual, first place; Ayden Anderson, Jordan Bowie, Bailey Brady, Heather Buzarde, Jayden Cornell, Degory Day, Seanna Ellingford, Auna Geroge, Diana Gomez, Rachael Haack, Lauren Hiatt, Abigail Lozano, Mariah Moore, Tia Nelson, Ana Quintero, Burkley Rich, Tristen Saunders, Grace Stewart, Colter Walton and Rylan Worley, Spanish Level 1 Group, first place.

Farson High School

Ande Kirk, People’s Choice 2-D Artwork, second place.

Guernsey-Sunrise High School

Mickayla VanNatter, People’s Choice 2-D Artwork, third place; Sierra Ballou, People’s Choice 3-D Artwork, third place.

Laramie High School

Erin Dennis, French Level 4/5 Individual, first place; Riley Baker and Kit Ng, French Level 3/4 Group, second place; Bryce Bienz, German Level 1 Individual, second place; Dusti Recter, German Level 4 Individual, first place; Lander Stone, German Level 5 Individual, first place; Hannah Johnson, German Level 5 Individual, second place; Ross McIntosh and Jarod Scheidemantel, German Level 5 Group, first place; Clifford Martin and Susan Izzo, German Level 5 Group, second place; Marcos Johnson Noya and Samuel Johnson Noya, Spanish Level 4 Group, first place; and Jacob Yokum-Blum, Spanish Level 5 Individual, second place.

Rock Springs High School

Emma Lowell, French Level 1, first place; Alyssa Klingensmith and Keyonna Weinreich, French Level 2 Group, second place; Averie Cornell, Martina Emden and Mya Taylor, Spanish Level 1 Group, third place; Jael Smith, Spanish Level 2 Individual, first place; Aylin Loredo, Spanish Level 5 Individual, third place; Alyssa Boyer and Seaira Inman, People’s Choice 3-D Artwork, second place.

Sheridan High School

Mallory Arneson, Leah Bouley, Nandy Crabb, Will Craft, Isabelle Cruz, Chandler Freimund, Race Johnston, John Lenzi, Ashley Thompson and Matai Trampe, Spanish Level 4 Group, second place.

Shoshoni High School

Fynn Deneke, ESL Level 4, first place.

Sundance Secondary School

Shelby Heaster, Dustin Medina, Nathan Diede and Jonas Pridgeon, Spanish Level 3 Group, first place.