It’s the time of year when recognition pours in for students, giving standout kids credit where credit is due in the arts, academics, sports, and other areas in which they excel. Here’s the latest round of honors for South Fork kids — and stay tuned, more is sure to come.
A Wave of Talent
Clarissa Covey of Southampton High School and Lily Caplin of Pierson High School have been named the first and second-place winners, respectively, in “Writing the Wave,” Bay Street Theater’s annual writing competition, which recognizes students’ creativity, originality, and command of language.
Clarissa’s winning entry was a monologue titled “Diversity Spot,” while Lily’s contribution was a poem titled “Second Best.” They read their entries on May 6 at the opening night of “Title Wave,” Bay Street’s New Works Festival.
Earning honorable mentions for their entries were Kai Basseches, Isabelle Caplin, and Zoe Richardson, all from Pierson.
They Achieved a ‘Personal Best’
East Hampton High School recently presented 24 of its ninth graders with Personal Best Awards. They are “positive contributors to the classroom who have demonstrated exemplary character and acts of kindness during their freshman year,” said Julia Petersen and Marilyn Marsilio, guidance counselors, who coordinate this award. Nominated by their teachers, the students were recognized for their “nontraditional school achievements.”
Receiving this award were Alexa Aguilar, Addison Barletta, Emily Bruno, Mariano (Josue) Caniz, Ava Castillo, Anahi (Nicole) Castro, Jackson Charron, Katherine Chavez Zumba, Ryan Darrell, Julia DelPercio, Carter Dickinson, Benson Edman, Benjamin Friscia, Jocelyn Garcia, Viviana Guerrero, Jason Gutierrez Serrano, Kiefer Mitchell, Zion Osei, Brandon Ospina Wilder, Deyanira Pinos-Quito, Adriano Rangel-Guzman, Lila Ruddy, Sierra Semb, and Valerie Zamora.
Congressional Recognition
Sofia Jane Nagle, an East Hampton High School junior, has earned a second-place award for her artwork in the Congressional Art Competition, a nationwide contest that recognizes student artists in each representative’s district. Her work was titled “Winter Evening, Main Street, Montauk, N.Y.”
“The quality and talent of young artists from across the First District remains unparalleled, which made it especially challenging to choose a winner,” Representative Lee Zeldin said in a release. “It’s an honor to be able to recognize their talent, creativity and hard work, and I look forward to seeing what each and every one of these students does next.”
Teeny Awards, Big Talents
Quite a few local students have been nominated in the annual East End Arts Teeny Awards theater competition, which is modeled after the professional theater world’s Tony Awards. This year marks the 20th year that East End Arts has given these awards.
The Teenies “are awesome,” Katie Schreck, a 1999 graduate of East Hampton High School who now directs musicals there, said this week. “For students who are really invested in the performing arts, to have something that recognizes it is a big deal. People don’t always fully recognize what goes into putting on a full-scale production. It’s a tremendous amount of work, dedication, and talent.”
From East Hampton High School, which produced the show “Footloose,” Silas Jones is nominated for lead male in a musical. Olivia Armon, Amaia Astorr, and Dakota Quackenbush received nominations for supporting female in a musical, while Kieran Conlon and Jadiel Rodriguez were nominated for supporting male in a musical. Another category, outstanding performer in a play or musical, featured two East Hampton students, Siena Link-Morse and Anika Petruccelli, for their roles in “Footloose.”From Pierson High School, which produced the play “One-Stoplight Town,” Lillian McGuire and Zoe Richardson have been nominated for lead female in a play, while Aiden Genender received a nod in the lead male in a play category. Emily Glass was nominated for supporting female in a play and Everett McMahon for supporting male, for their performances in “One-Stoplight Town.”
Pierson’s musical was “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” for which Angela Gardella and Genevieve Roeloffs are nominated for lead female in a musical and Lance Schroeder for lead male. Emily, Zoe, and Wyeth Zeff received nominations in the supporting female in a musical category.
Numerous students were given awards in the technical recognition categories, including East Hampton’s Julianna Lester as stage manager, Dante Sasso as lighting designer, and Anika and Hanna Medler as student choreographers.
East Hampton’s ensemble number from “Footloose” was selected for an in-person performance, and students from across the East End will take part in an opening number choreographed specially for the Teeny Awards. The winners will be announced on June 5 at 3 p.m. at Riverhead High School, with a red-carpet ceremony starting at 1:30 p.m. that day. It will be hosted by Anita Boyer of Our Fabulous Variety Show. Nominees and performers get in for free; tickets for all others are $10, available at teenyawards.booktix.com.