Wilson Hall students won eight awards, including five first place trophies, at the S.C. Independent School Assoc. State Literary Meet in Holly Hill. Mrs. Stacey Reaves, a high school English and lower school writing teacher, advised the students and accompanied them to the competition. Senior Cody Clark won his division in extemporaneous speaking which had the purpose of informing and persuading an audience. Participants were given broad topic categories prior to the meet but did not learn of their specific topic until arriving at the meet. Once given the topic, participants were given 45 minutes to prepare a speech to defend or support it.

Third-grader Madison DesChamps won her division in the storytelling contest. For this competition students must repeat a story, which they just heard read to them, in four minutes or less. Students are judged on spontaneity, originality and naturalness of delivery.

Seventh-grader Emily DuRant won her division in the oral interpretation contest in which participants gave a verbatim reading of a single selection of literature, poetry or prose after presenting a brief expository statement about the selection. Students are judged on their ability to communicate the author’s meaning through inflection and expression. Junior Gabi Godier placed second and junior Sam Umbaugh fourth in their respective divisions of this competition.

Eighth-grader Anna Lyles won her division in the essay contest. For the competition students are given five topics relating to current events; students are not aware of the topics prior to the competition. Students must choose one of the topics and write an essay that does not exceed 600 words in 60 minutes or less. The essays are judged on content, originality and style.

Fifth-grader Katherine Grace Singleton won her division in the poetry recitation contest. In this competition students recite a poem of their choice and are judged on memorization, diction and interpretation. Fifth-grader Luke Reuwer placed second in this competition.