Avon seniors Delaney B., Abigail S. and Emma D. all earned top six finishes Thursday at the Interscholastic Competition in English at SUNY Geneseo.
The annual contest, which drew competitors from Avon, Caledonia-Mumford, Geneseo, Livonia, Pavilion and Wayland-Cohocton, challenges three-student teams in the areas of literary analysis, creative writing and dramatic presentation.
Competing together as The Scarlett Letterhead, the Avon trio combined for a second place overall team finish on the strength of a 5th place performance from Abby in dramatic presentation, a 3rd place showing from Delaney in literary analysis and a 1st place finish from Emma in creative writing.
For her dramatic presentation, Abby performed Babe’s monologue from “Crimes of the Heart,” by Beth Henley. In the monologue, Babe has just shot her husband, a rich and powerful lawyer, over the ill treatment she and Willie Jay, a 15-year-old Black boy she’s been having an affair with, have endured at his hands.
For the literary analysis portion of the competition, students completed a 50- to 75-question exam that tasked them with analyzing:
A short video clip
Two or three essay or short stories that are classics of the English literary canon
Two or three poems - likewise considered classics of English
A piece of flash fiction
In the creative writing category, students were scored on two writing prompts.
The first, which students completed back in November, was capped at 500 words and required competitors to write an essay or story on one of five topics: “Life Goes On,” “Unopened Package,” “The Seeker,” “One of a Kind” or “My Reality Show.”
Emma chose to center her submission on the “Life Goes On” prompt. Her piece, titled “Psalm 62: 1-8,” centers on a young woman coming to terms with an unexpected pregnancy.
For the second prompt, competitors were given two hours and 100 words the day of the competition to write a “concise reaction” to the following quote attributed to The Buddha: “No one saves us but ourselves. No one can and no one may. We ourselves must walk the path.”
For this prompt, Emma wrote a poem titled “Timeline of Salvation,” which is intended to be read twice and can be interpreted as both agreeing and disagreeing with The Buddha.
Per Emma’s instructions, which she included as a note in her submission to judges, only every other line of the poem is to be read upon the first reading. Then, on the second reading, every line is to be read.
The two versions of Emma’s poem lend themselves to differing conclusions as to whether the author agrees in The Buddha’s view of a self-determined salvation or not.
Also competing for Avon were the Lord of the Files (Lauren H., Brandon H. and Finn S.) and Of Mice and Memos (Megann L., Olivia N. and Aariana A.)
Competing in ICE is a big commitment, said high school English teacher Cordula Kennell, who coaches Avon’s team along with middle school English teacher Stephanie Campbell.
“It's always hard to find time to prepare. Students are busy and typically the kids with interest in ICE are busy with drama club, sports and are usually officers in clubs,” said Kennell. “That being said, our kids absolutely killed it yesterday - I was so proud of them. I’m grateful for the enthusiasm of our teams this year and for the wonderful performances and hope we can continue to get more students interested in the future.”
Added Campbell: “As a middle school teacher, it is a lot of fun to take a trip with a lot of juniors and seniors who have grown up and developed into young adults since I last worked with them in ELA class. Though I continue to work with many of them throughout high school in the musicals, many of them I haven't seen often since 8th grade. I love how much they still enjoy and appreciate English!”
In all, 18 teams competed in Thursday competition. Livonia’s Team Blue and Team Orange took 1st and 6th place, respectively, as the Bulldogs snapped Geneseo’s 10-year winning streak to capture the ICE Cup for the first time since 2013.
Full individual and team results from Thursday’s competition are listed below:
Literary Analysis
1st: McKenna Collins (Livonia)
2nd: Julianna Scott (Caledonia-Mumford)
3rd: Delaney B. (Avon)
4th: Emily Metz (Geneseo)
5th: Emma Shearer (Geneseo)
6th: Grace Slocum (Pavilion)
Dramatic Presentation
1st: Leah Whittel (Livonia)
2nd: Elena Kolberg (Geneseo)
3rd: Kaedin Andrews (Geneseo)
4th: Harlee Grodis (Wayland-Cohocton)
5th: Abigail S. (Avon)
6th: Will Rounding (Geneseo)
Creative Writing
1st: Emma D. (Avon)
2nd: Rebekah Hendrick (Livonia)
3rd: Emma Brogan (Caledonia-Mumford)
4th: Karli Hy (Geneseo)
5th: Attila Balasi (Caledonia-Mumford)
6th: Nataly Prigge (Wayland-Cohocton)
Team Awards
1st: Team Blue (McKenna Collins, Leah Whittel and Matthew Parry, Livonia)
2nd: The Scarlett Letterhead (Delaney B., Abigail S. and Emma D., Avon)
3rd: Snow Ball (Julianna Scott, Julie Wasilco and Emma Brogan, Caledonia-Mumford)
T-4th: Team 3 (Emma Shearer, Elena Kolberg and Leo Bailey, Geneseo)
T-4th: Team 1 (Emily Metz, Kaedin Andrews and Harper Antonucci, Geneseo)
6th: Team Orange (Alaina Turek, Henry Peterson and Rebekah Hendrick, Livonia)
Avon’s The Scarlett Letterhead team of, from left, Emma D., Abby S. and Delaney B. pose for a photo with their second place trophy following Thursday’s Interscholastic Competition in English at SUNY Geneseo.
Junior Brandon H. performed Dean’s monologue from “Dust in Our Eyes,” by Joseph Arnone Thursday for the Dramatic Presentation portion of the Interscholastic Competition in English at SUNY Geneseo. In the scene, Dean rejects the prospect of living a humdrum, ABC life and tells his best friend, Paula, about how he wants to live a life full of purpose and meaning.
Senior Abby S. performed Babe’s monologue from “Crimes of the Heart,” by Beth Henley for the Dramatic Presentation portion of the Interscholastic Competition in English at SUNY Geneseo. In the monologue, Babe has just shot her husband, a rich and powerful lawyer, over the ill treatment she and Willie Jay, a 15-year-old Black boy she’s been having an affair with, have endured at his hands.
Senior Olivia N. performed Corinne’s monologue from “Treat Me Nice,” by Joseph Arnone for the Dramatic Presentation portion of the Interscholastic Competition in English at SUNY Geneseo. In the monologue, Corinne vents frustration over her strained relationship with her mother, with whom she lives.
Senior Amber C. performed Eve’s monologue in “Rage is Loud,” by Kellie Powell for the Dramatic Presentation portion of the Interscholastic Competition in English at SUNY Geneseo. In the monologue, Eve has just discovered that her friend, Fell is actually a sociopathic serial killer and tries to convince Fell’s girlfriend, Stephanie, to help stop him from killing again.
Above is a compilation of the dramatic presentation monologues Avon students performed Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025 at SUNY Geneseo as part of the Interscholastic Competition in English, or ICE.