At the 35th Annual Foreign Language Festival, hosted by Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU) Department of Languages and Communication, 21 St. Mary’s Dominican High School Spanish students brought home several honors.

Victoria Liu received the Special Award prize. This first place award is given to the student who demonstrated the most outstanding delivery in the category of the Oral Interview. Liu was recognized as the best student participating in the category of Spanish Extemporaneous Speaking 4.  SLU faculty member Dr. Luz Escobar presented her with a $1,000 travel gift certificate toward travel to a Spanish-speaking country within one year from the awarded date.

Dominican students took third place in five different categories: Victoria Bordelon (Spanish I) – prose Native Speaker; Hannah Champagne (Spanish II) and Nayah Thomas (Spanish II) – music; Tia Peck (Spanish AP) – poetry; Clara Garcia (Spanish AP) – poetry Native speaker; and Fernanda Bonet (Spanish AP) –  extemporaneous speaking Native speaker. Dominican received third place award in the Spanish music category. Spanish teachers Hannah Hess and Claudia Vallejo accompanied the group.

Attending the 35th Annual Foreign Language Festival from St. Mary’s Dominican High School (Front Row, from left), Chloe Mahl, Spanish teacher Claudia Vallejo, Jordyn Brown, Kathryn Valldejoli, Saheba Cuccia, Lorissa Gallardo, Anne Alexander, Amani Charif, Fernanda Bonet, Spanish teacher Hannah Hess, and Muosekalo Ituah. Row Two: Victoria Liu, Tia Peck, Blake Beaulieu, Katherine Mazzanti, Gabrielle Duhe, Olivia Singleton, and Tia Sutherland. Row Three: Clara Garcia, Victoria Bordelon, Hannah Champagne, Emily Benvenuitti, and Madelyn DeRamus.