Each spring, the Diocesan Office of Education hosts four competitions for middle school students, drawing hundreds of participants to represent their Catholic schools and parishes at the Diocesan Center in Harrisburg. These competitions shine a light on students’ knowledge about the Catholic faith and world geography, and their talents in spelling and public speaking.
Here’s a look at this year’s winners in the Diocese’s four competitions: the Catholic Faith Bee, Geography Bee, Spelling Bee and Speech Competition. Congratulations to the dozens of winners at the parish- and school-level competitions, who participated in the Diocesan finals.
The top three finalists in the Catholic Faith Bee were Hamish Francey, center, first place, from St. Leo the Great School in Rohrerstown; Adam Clinkscale, left, second place, from St. Theresa School in New Cumberland; and Ellen Sakyiwaa-Yeboah, right, third place, from Our Mother of Perpetual Help School in Ephrata.
The first-place winners in the respective categories of the Speech Contest were Jackson Shienvold of Holy Name of Jesus School in Harrisburg, left, for Persuasive Interpretation; and St. Margaret Mary School, Harrisburg, students Grace Fox and Gianna Petrou in Duo Dramatic Interpretation, center, and Ella Murphy for Oral Interpretation, right.
In the Spelling Bee, Nora Baker, center, of St. Theresa School in New Cumberland, earned first place; Liam Callahan, right, of St. Patrick School in Carlisle, was second; and Raj Chakka, left, of St. Joseph School in Mechanicsburg, placed third.
This year’s top three finalists in the Geography Bee were Luke Skamanich, third place, from St. Rose of Lima School in Thomasville, left; David Siahaan, first place, from Corpus Christi School in Chambersburg, center; and Parker Kovach, second place, from York Catholic Middle & High School, right.
Congratulations to all of this year’s contestants!
(Photos by Chris Heisey and Jen Reed, The Catholic Witness.)
