Two Avon students earned top six finishes Wednesday at the Interscholastic Competition in English at SUNY Geneseo.
The annual competition, which this year drew teams from Avon, Caledonia-Mumford, Geneseo, Livonia, Pavilion and Wayland-Cohocton, challenges three-student teams in the areas of literary analysis, creative writing and dramatic presentation.
Placing for Avon were senior Lauren C., who took 6th in the creative writing portion of the competition, and Isis S., a junior who took 6th in dramatic presentation.
In the creative writing portion, students completed two writing prompts. The first was capped at 500 words and students had two hours to complete it back in November. Students were tasked with writing a creative essay or story on one of five topics: virtual reality, the jinx, roots and wings, jealousy or light and darkness.
For the second prompt, students were given two hours and 100 words the day of the competition to write a “concise reaction” to the following quote attributed to Ronald Reagan: “We can’t help everyone, but everyone can help someone.”
For the literary analysis portion of the competition, students completed a 50- to 75-question exam that tasked them with analyzing:
A short video clip
Two or three essay or short stories that are classics of the English literary canon
Two or three poems - likewise considered classics of English
A piece of flash fiction
And in the dramatic presentation category, students performed short monologues for a pair of judges - Matthew Ames, an associate professor of theatre and dance at Nazareth College, and Shawnda Urie, a theatre professor at Roberts Wesleyan University.
Geneseo’s three, three-student teams earned first, second and fourth place at SUNY Geneseo Wednesday and the district was named the overall winner. Geneseo has won nine straight ICE Cups and 14 of the last 16, dating back to 2007.
Senior Lauren C., far left, is pictured during the Interscholastic Competition in English awards ceremony. Lauren took 6th in the creative writing portion of the competition Wednesday at SUNY Geneseo.
Junior Isis S., far left, is pictured during the Interscholastic Competition in English awards ceremony. Isis took 6th in the dramatic presentation portion of the competition Wednesday at SUNY Geneseo.
Senior Michael F. performs Tim’s monologue from “It Came From Texas,” a one-act play by Josh Weckesser about a group of people who take refuge in a basement as a monster rampages through the countryside.
Junior Lexx S. performs Inez’s monologue from “No Exit,” a play that tells the story of three strangers locked in a room together in some version of an afterlife.
Junior Isis S. performs Maya’s monologue from “Bathroom.” The monologue centers on a young girl’s discovery that a fellow student has written a message about her on the wall of a toilet stall at her school.
A compilation of the dramatic presentation monologues Michael F., Lexx S. and Isis S. performed Wednesday at SUNY Geneseo as part of the Interscholastic Competition in English.