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Newton-area students win big at Regional Literacy Days Competition
Elementary winners
A total of 18 Newton County Schools students earned awards recently at the Griffin RESA 2021 Regional Literacy Days Poetry Recitation, Ready Writing, and Drama Competition. - photo by Special Photo

Newton County School System (NCSS) students earned numerous awards at the recent Griffin RESA (Regional Educational Service Agency) 2021 Regional Literacy Days Poetry Recitation, Ready Writing and Drama Competition. Overall, 18 students brought home awards.

In the poetry recitation contests, competitors were judged on a number of criteria, including stage presence, articulation, interpretation, memory and accuracy, and difficulty of the piece. Heard-Mixon Elementary School student, Ella Burton, won top honors in the third-grade Poetry Recitation Competition; and Newton County Theme School students Oliver Reid and Maren Poynter, each won second place awards in the sixth and seventh-grade competitions respectively.

Newton County School System students also earned three awards in the Ready Writing Competition during which students are given a writing prompt and one hour to complete an essay. Sara Smallwood of Mansfield Elementary School won top honors in the fifth-grade competition and Joellianna Saintil of Clements Middle School brought home first place honors in the sixth-grade competition. Baily Stover of Newton County Theme School won third place in the eighth-grade competition.

The Live Oak Elementary School drama team, consisting of students Rhakhaiyah Allen, Quortney Graham, Roman McCormick, Mason Perry-Preddie, Karsyn Randle, Layla Smith, Jyve Veasey, Xander Wheeler, and Nelani Jones earned second place honors with their performance of, “Charlotte’s Web.” At the middle school level, Skyy Lacy, Alejandro Pena and Layla Walker, won first place honors with their performance of, “I Can’t Breathe.”

“The Literacy Days Competition provides students with the opportunity to perform and be recognized for their talents through the celebration of the arts,” Superintendent Samantha Fuhrey said. 

“I am proud that we had so many winners at the regional competition as it takes a tremendous amount of talent and commitment to participate in this type of competition. They definitely represented their schools and our school system very well.”