Students medal at foreign language contest

Over twenty students from Starr’s Mill and Whitewater High Schools were awarded top honors at the Foreign Language Association (FLAG) of Georgia Spoken Language Contest in French and Spanish. Starr’s Mill High students received a total of 21 medals, including 14 Superior, 5 Excellent, and 2 Notable. For instance, Lizzie Hunter excelled in both AP Spanish and AP French. Other students who earned Superior medals were Matthew Baber, James Bender, Bryce Bradley, Stanley Dierkes, Nyana Grillasca, Valentin Guzman, Vivienne Ha, Caroline Kern, Zalek Kovar-Oifoh, Isabel Marullo, Abby McSpadden, Marisol Negrete Tejeda, and Mark Panait. Additionally, Rachel French, Abby Moore, and Aiden Smith received Excellent for Spanish 2, while Shihyun Park achieved Excellent for French 4. Gracie Rae Collins and Ella Wyler were recognized with Notable awards for Spanish 2. Whitewater High students also excelled, with 10 medals in total, including 8 Superior, 1 Excellent, and 1 Notable. Charlie Arena was recognized for his achievements in both Spanish 3 and French 1. Other students who received Superior medals were Adunola Adeniyi, Kolade Adesunloye, Gandor Bah, Ally Martin, Brandie Schlussler, and Jacob Sims. Allison Fonseca was recognized with Excellent for French 1, and Isaac Onibon-Oje received a Notable for French 2. The FLAG Spoken Language Contest is an annual competition where middle and high school students across the state showcase their language skills. Participants are evaluated based on their fluency, pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar, and conversational skills in the target language.