The Record Newspapers - Hometown News For Orange County, Texas

West Orange-Stark High School students Tristen Revis and Kalairn Keaton earned first place in Declamation and Interpretive Reading, respectively, at the school-level finals of the 110th Miriam Lutcher Stark Contest in Reading and Declamation, a scholarship program sponsored by the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation.

On Thursday, Feb. 27, 10 West Orange-Stark High School students competed in the local-level contest, which was coordinated by Ebonique Celestine, West Orange-Stark High School teacher and school director for the Stark Reading Contest. Revis won first place in Declamation with Remarks on the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. by Robert F. Kennedy, while Keaton won first place in Interpretive Reading with her presentation of Hans Christian Andersen's The Little Match Girl. Second place in Declamation went to Chastyne Hauffpauir, with Danielle Angelle receiving second-place honors in Interpretive Reading.

Two 2013 Stark Reading Contest County Finalists, Amahri Finister and Tyffani Hinson, served as the emcees for the West Orange-Stark competition. Mr. Ray Jones, West Orange-Stark High School teacher, presented awards to the 2013-14 school-level contest winners.

Each second-place winner was awarded $1,500 in scholarships from the Stark Foundation, while the two first-place winners were awarded $2,000 in scholarships. The first-place winners from West Orange-Stark High School will go on to compete against the first-place winners from other participating Orange County high schools at the County Final of the Stark Reading Contest, which is scheduled for Sunday, April 27, at 2:00 p.m. at the Lutcher Theater.

The Stark Reading Contest is sponsored by the Nelda C. and H.J. Lutcher Stark Foundation as part of its continuing mission to enrich the community and encourage education. The aim of the Contest is to enhance the literary and forensic quality and skills of Orange County public high school students. The Contest has continued annually since its inception in 1904, which makes the 2013-14 school year the 110th annual year of the Contest. In addition to offering educational opportunities and experiences for students at eligible Orange County public high schools, participating students may earn scholarship awards for continued education.

Pictured: The 2014 winners of the school-level competition, from left, are Kalairn Keaton, 1st place, Interpretive Reading; Danielle Angelle, 2nd place, Interpretive Reading; Tristen Revis, 1st place, Declamation; Chastyne Hauffpauir, 2nd place, Declamation.