On Tuesday, April 9, The Chesterton High School German classes level 3 and 4 all competed in the annual German Theater Fest held at Valparaiso University. At this competition, the CHS students, along with students from other schools, competed against each other. During this competition, the CHS students watched other performances given by the other schools, and the other groups that participated in the plays. They were then judged to see who did the best overall performance. The students in the German classes were judged by their knowledge, creativity, and their skill. The German 4 (fourth year students) classes had groups that placed first and second, with plays in “Madagascar.”, and “The Wizard of Oz”. The students that participated in “Madagascar” were (Floor, Left to Right) Dylan Glines, Alexander Ezra, (Kneeling Left to Right) Holly Anton, Abigail Casias, (Standing Left to Right) Ethan Soblotne, Ben Wellensiek, Herr Knauff standing in front of Wellensiek, Robert Williams, and Kaden Summer. The students that participated in “The Wizard of Oz” were (Front Row Left to Right) Julia Dietrich, Aubriana Pulsoni, Alaina McGrogan, Emma Adcock, (Back Row Left to Right) Carson Foster, Eli Carden, Logan Arthur, Madison Buckley, Herr Knauff. The German 3 (third year students) class had a group of students that placed first in their division with a recreation of the film “Snow White”. These Students were (Left to Right) Cameron Pace, Joe Sandrick, Keith Ward, Logan Chestovich, Caden Koedyker, Ella Taylor, Sophia Higgins, Katherine Jegen, Amelia Smith, Chloe Link, and the students who participated in the German Theater Fest had a great time participating.
“The TheaterFest was really great! It was neat getting to see all of the people, both from Chesterton and other schools, perform the shows that they’d written. There were some really creative students there, and some great performances! It was definitely especially nice that my group won for the advanced division. It was really neat to get to hear from a student who studied abroad in Germany and to learn about how we can continue on with our German learning journey beyond high school. Preparing for it was a bit stressful, making sure that everyone did what they needed to do ahead of time, and there were some of those stressors at the event as well, but in the end, it all went smoothly, and it was a really great experience to have had,” senior Julia Dietrich exclaimed.
All of the German classes that participated spent plenty of time focusing on memorizing their lines and working in their groups to prepare for the play.
“I spent a lot of time learning my lines and memorizing them to get a better understanding of the script. In our class, my group spent a month preparing. We practiced the whole class period. Our group was very surprised because we didn’t expect to place first, and I am so happy we did,” sophomore Logan Chestovich said.
Overall, all of the German classes had a wonderful time competing in this competition and had a great learning experience out of it and won first and second place!
