Athens Reporter

Cobb Schools issued the following announcement on May 5. 

A competition that often gets overlooked in most schools is Literary. While GHSA is typically thought of as being associated with sporting events, they also hold the Literary State Championship each year in late winter. This year, Cobb had a great showing at the Literary State competition, even producing an individual champion in 7A Essay.

Lily Hurn, a junior at Hillgrove, won a state championship for her work in the 7A Argumentative category. Contestants are given three current topics discussed in newspapers and magazines. They have one hour to handwrite an essay using pen and paper that is not to exceed 600 words on one of the topics. The essay is judged in ten categories: thesis, support, sentence structure, command of the language, development of the main idea, organization, and grammar.

Dr. Sylvia Spruill is Lily's literary "coach" and the English Department Chair at Hillgrove. "She is a thinker and a reader, which makes her writing dynamic," Dr. Spruill said. "She never seeks to boast about her skills, and in fact, she would likely tell you that she could never have imagined winning the state-level competition. Her humble and unassuming nature makes her a perfect student to be honored. I’m proud to know her, and Hillgrove is lucky to have her as a student and leader on our campus."

Several other Cobb students also placed well at States in many other categories. In 6A, Allatoona placed two students: William Talley in fourth for Extemporaneous Speaking-International and Christina Hueltte as state runner-up for her Argumentative Essay. Daniel Sherrer placed fourth for Kennesaw Mountain in the Rhetorical Essay category. In 7A, Dyllon Glaze from Harrison took third for his Humorous Oral Interpretation.

The State Championships also include a singing competition. Kennesaw Mountain performed well in these earning a pair of third-place finishes in Boys and Girls Solo by Colin Daniell and Annie VanPelt. Thanks to Ben Trussell, Diego Turner-Figueredo, Logan Tracy, and Colin Daniell, Kennesaw Mountain also placed fourth in the Quartet category. Harrison showed its chops in the singing categories as well, earning a fourth in Boys Solo from David Champion and a third in Girls Solo from Lauren Sweat. In groups, Harrison earned state runner-up in Trio (Lauren Sweat, Nathalie Nguyen, and Macy Kiger) and a fourth in Quartet (Blake Dwelle, Ethan Martinez, Noah Templin, and David Champion).

Original source can be found here.

Source: Cobb Schools