JCHS Scores at Literary Meet
Four Jasper County High School students are advancing to the state literary competition, to be held March 17 in Veterans High School in Kathleen, (Houston County), after successfully competing Thursday, March 1, in various events at the Georgia High School Association’s Area 6 AA Literary Competition.
Freshman Luke Vaughn won the first place award in humorous interpretation with a piece from Smoke on the Mountain, by Connie Ray and Alan Bailey, while seniors Destiny Lytle and MacKenzie Jordan took first place in duo interpretation with Ruthless!, by Joel Paley. Alina Jablonski, also a senior, placed second in the rhetorical essay event, in which she wrote about a selection from James Agee’s A Death in the Family.
Also representing JCHS, senior Jessica Moore placed third in dramatic interpretation, presenting a piece from Gorilla, My Love, by Toni Cade Bambara; she also took third in the international extemporaneous speaking event, where she spoke about the leftist party in Israel.
Senior Cole Usry took third place in domestic extemporaneous speaking with his speech about the impact of Republican tax cuts on middle class families. The boys quartet—sophomore Quindarius Cobb, freshman Gavin Jacobs, freshman Luke Vaughn, and senior Tyler Aldridge—took third place, performing two pieces, “Walk Like a Man,” arranged by Kirby Shaw, and “The Water is Wide,” a folk song arranged by Luigi Zaninelli. Freshman Gavin Jacobs placed fourth in the boys solo with “Proud of Your Boy,” by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, and John Newton’s famous hymn “Amazing Grace,” arranged by Jay Althouse.
Other team members included junior girls soloist America Strickland, who performed “Pretty Polly Oliver,” arranged by Granville Bantock, and “There’s a World,” by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey. Drew Schilling, also a junior, competed in the argumentative essay event with a piece about expanding the Pell Grant, and senior Madison Rae submitted a personal essay about her dream job. All represented Jasper County well.
Literary events were coached by Michael Cooper (literary coordinator and dramatic interpretation coach), Bobbi Sauls (all musical and extemporaneous speaking events), and Lianna Nix (humorous and duo interpretation, essays).
Those pictured include (front row, right to left) Destiny Lytle, Gavin Jacobs, Tyler Aldridge, Drew Schilling, Cole Usry, Quindarius Cobb, America Strickland, (back row) Madison Rae, MacKenzie Jordan, Jessica Moore, Alina Jablonski, Ansley Hargrove, Emma Jacobs, and Nykeria Greene.