Campus Hosts Foreign Language Festival

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   One-hundred-fifty Southeast Arkansas high school students participated in the University of Arkansas at Monticello’s eighth annual Foreign Language Festival Jan. 27. 

Photo by Media Services

Drew Central - Drew Central students placing second at the UAM Foreign Language Festival were (from left) Colby Berg, Antonio Dickerson, Danielle Jackson, Natalie Spradlin, Amber Spradlin, Britni Huskey, Alma Rivera, Kyle White and instructor James Bacon.

   The event was supported in part by a grant from the Arkansas Humanities Council and the National Endowment for the Humanities, according to Isabel Bacon, UAM Spanish instructor and regional coordinator for the festival. 

   Students competed in various contests including poetry, public speaking, vocabulary and extemporaneous speech in both Spanish and French. The festival also offered students opportunities to participate in arts and crafts, bingo, dance and cultural trivia, as well as visit with this year’s UAM Fulbright Scholars Pilar Sanchis from Spain and Gabriela Atan from Argentina. 

Photo by Media Services

Monticello High - Monticello students placing first at the UAM Foreign Language Festival were (from left, first row) Joseph Bonfanti, Toni Findley, Rachael Brown, Maria Perez, Tiara Leonard (with Fleure Perez); (second row, from left) Krystal Johnson, Ellen Chisom, Sonam Patel, Jaznique Carroll, Ayesha Shabazz, Brittany Valladares, Cami Brown; (third row, from left) Taqueshia Smith, Courtney Bolin, Kristal Wilkins, Shanikia Williams, Mia Woodard, Beth Dillard, Janet Jamison and Brittany Bell.

   Monticello French and Spanish classes took home first place trophies, while Drew Central Spanish placed second and Watson Chapel Spanish won third.