NEWS

NEWBERRY — Newberry College brought home individual honors and an overall second-place finish at the South Carolina Speech & Theatre Association’s State College Festival Competition. The annual competition was held April 2 at Lander University.

Three Newberry students won first place in their individual competitions. Newberry tied in cumulative points for the Team Sweepstakes Award for the second consecutive year, falling short to the University of South Carolina at Lancaster in the tiebreaker. Newberry was one of six college and university teams in attendance.

Newberry’s speech and theatre program was represented by sophomore Madison Bickley, of Newberry; senior Artavis Boyd, of West Columbia; senior Nathaniel Carrasco, of Lexington; senior Sarah Dougherty, of Newberry; sophomore Makayla Lee, of Aiken; senior Ashton Porter, of Lexington; junior Bryce Sox, of West Columbia; sophomore Raesha Thompson, of Salters; and first-year Christian Vega, of Greer.

The students worked under the direction of professors Mandy Butler, Pat Gagliano, Al de Lachica and Dr. Jodie Peeler.

Newberry’s individual competition results:

Persuasive Speaking

First — Madison Bickley

Second — Raesha Thompson

Third — Bryce Sox

Informative Speaking

Second — Ashton Porter

Third — Nathaniel Carrasco

Television Broadcasting

Third — Madison Bickley

Poetry Interpretation

First — Sarah Dougherty

Second — Ashton Porter

Prose Interpretation

First — Sarah Dougherty

Third — Ashton Porter

Storytelling

Second — Nathaniel Carrasco

Pictured: Standing (left to right): Artavis Boyd, Bryce Sox, Nathaniel Carrasco, Christian Vega, Makayla Lee, Raesha Thompson; Sitting (left to right): Madison Bickley, Sarah Dougherty, Ashton Porter.