Several Mars Area High School and Mars Area Middle School students competed in the 2024 Youngstown State University English Festival, held April 17-19.
In the Writing Games competition, seventh-grader Mateus Morgueta took first place; eighth-grader Sage Mahan and seventh-grader Ella Ostapchenko, second place; and freshman Mei Lien Mansfield, third place. In the Not-So-Trivial Pursuit contest; freshman Reagan Dunn and seventh-grader Rhythm Srivastava earned first place; seventh-grader Ella Reilly, second place; and freshman Sophia Gourash, eighth-grader Addison Neese, and seventh-grader Lily Morlino, third place.
Other participating students were sophomores Naeema Dheen, Olivia Dickson, Gianna Goodman, Riana Palm and Kiara Van Wyk; freshmen Alexis Abbey, Lily Cicconi, Naeerah Dheen, Sophia Furman, Grace Nam, Ava Seebacher; eighth-graders Kayden Gromacki, Brady Randall, Mahin Ugle and Elisa Wadas; and, seventh-graders Londyn Denk, Nola Michael, Jack Sechler and Elizabeth Shaha.
To prepare for the event, the students read seven books selected by the English Festival Committee. At the festival, guest speakers included award-winning authors Jasmine Warga and Jeff Zentner and students participated in writing workshops in addition to competing in literature-related games.
The annual event, open to students in Grades 7-12, welcomes of students from schools in Western Pennsylvania and Ohio and is meant to promote and cultivate reading and writing.
For more information, visit http://ysuenglishfestival.org.