JOHNSON CITY – East Tennessee State University will once again host the National Storytelling Youth Olympics on Saturday, April 7, at 7 p.m. in the D.P. Culp University Center's Martha Street Culp Auditorium.
Literally thousands of students across the nation have worked since the contest last year honing their skills in hopes of becoming regional finalists, thus earning the opportunity to be eligible for the national event.
Although competition is involved, the underlying intent is to provide students with a reason to practice numerous noncompetitive communication skills. Any storyteller under age 18 is qualified to enter. Fifteen state winners from coast to coast have been selected to perform for the April finals at ETSU.
This year features a pair of sisters and a pair of brothers as finalists, plus Megan Lu, who has lived in the United States for only a few months. Her homeland is China.
Contestants will perform on Friday, April 6, in classes at ETSU and in area schools.
Saturday evening's event will be a concert of stories – including a favorite tale of each of the 15 contenders – which will be the final competition to determine who will become the 2001 Grand Storytelling Torchbearer. Last year's grand winner, Amber Saskill from Wisconsin, will return to emcee the concert and to entertain the audience while the judges are making their final decisions.
Admission is $5 for the general public and $3 for senior citizens or students. ETSU students with a valid I.D. are admitted at no charge because of funding from the Student Government Association. This event is sponsored by the ETSU Master's Degree Program in Storytelling and Reading.
For more information or for special assistance or seating for persons with disabilities, call the ETSU storytelling office at (423) 439-7863 or e-mail fjoy@preferred.com.
Brian Davenport, 12, is a sixth grader from Los Alamos, N.M. His favorite activities are competitive swimming and participating in Aeyo, a verbal communication and drama group that performs poetry, choral readings and plays for the community, ranging in diversity from fairy tales to Shakespeare. His most memorable theatrical experience was singing and performing as a street boy in a professional production of Bizet's “Carmen” at the Santa Fe (N.M.) Opera. Davenport is home-schooled and active in Boy Scouts, and he plays the piano, violin and organ at his church. He enjoys reading, art, soccer, basketball and dance.
Marie Dunham, 12, is a sixth grade honor student from Townsend, Mass. Last year, she learned the art of telling and acting out stories. She worked with storyteller Katie Green at her school and performed stories for her classmates. She also performed at the Harvard Storytelling Festival and at Fitchburg State College. Dunham is a member of the junior choir and drama program at her church and has taken part in plays. She teaches songs and stories to two- and three-year-old youngsters. She sings, acts, plays the clarinet, plays soccer and enjoys crafts.
Colin Englesberg, 14, is an eighth grade student at Vista Middle School in Ferndale, Wash. He was introduced to storytelling by his teacher, Gail Smedley, last year, and has since been encouraged to further explore the art of storytelling. He enjoys it because it gives him a chance to bring stories he likes to eager listeners. Englesberg has also been involved in other theatrical productions such as school plays. Other activities he enjoys are playing basketball and soccer, listening to music and spending time with his friends.
Dawn Escobar, 17, is a senior at Hanford (Calif.) High School, where she is co-chair for Voices of Illusion. She has performed in over 350 shows and has presented at the National Storytelling Conference in Kansas City, Mo. She has been featured in four recordings and one CD. She won the award for “Best Supporting Actress” for her role in “Alice in Wonderland.” This year, she is directing a show called “Alligators in Our Sewer: Our Urban Tales.” She was involved in choir and journalism and plans to pursue these interests in college.
Victoria Futrell, 11, the youngest of five children, lives in Savannah, Ga. The fifth grader loves to cook, rollerblade and play softball. Even though she stays very busy and has traveled extensively with her family, she is an honor roll student. She became excited about storytelling when her sister, Carmel, participated in the National Storytelling Youth Olympics earlier. This excitement grew, and she began telling group stories in her school's storytelling troupe. It was not until the fall of 2000 that she began to tell stories on her own. “The Three Nanny Goats-Fluff!” is her first solo story.
Acayla Morenci Haile, 12, is a seventh grader at Bandera (Texas) Middle School. Since the age of nine, she has told stories and performed at festivals and events all over the state with her family. She is a three-time medalist in the Texas State Storytelling Youth Olympics, winning silver in 1998, bronze in 1999 and gold in 2000. She competes in several Universal Interscholastic League events, including science, prose, modern oratory and impromptu speaking. She placed ninth in her state in science (her favorite subject). She loves reading, writing poetry, singing, drawing, hiking and snorkeling in the river. Her goal is to become an archeologist.
Her sister, Sierra Chisos Haile, 10, is a fourth grader at Alkek Elementary in Bandera. She made her storytelling debut at age seven by winning the gold in the Texas State Storytelling Youth Olympics in 1998. The next year, she won a bronze medal, and in 2000, another gold! She was also a two-time district champion in Universal Interscholastic League storytelling in her second and third grade years. She hopes to do well also in the UIL poetry reading. Crowned “Little Miss Apple Dumpling,” she represented the Texas International Apple Festival in 1999. She enjoys singing and performing with her family, hiking, sports, drawing and playing with her pet roosters.
Sari Melain Lamela, 14, resides in Wanamassa, N.J., and is an eighth grader at the Ocean Township Intermediate School, where she is an honor roll student. She participates in many sports, including lacrosse and soccer, and is co-captain of her cheerleading squad. She is involved in many school activities, such as forensics, chorus and drama. Her hobbies are singing, dancing, acting, traveling and scuba diving. Last summer, she visited Australia, where she stayed for three weeks and dove at the Great Barrier Reef. She also studies French.
Sam Letchworth, 15, loves the challenge of “edutaining” children and adults with his selection of stories. Armed with his vast arsenal of character voices, props and puppets, he carries his audiences to other times and places. He is also a ventriloquist and has entertained audiences in churches, libraries, preschools and the International Vent Convention. Currently a ninth grader living in Wilmore, Ky., Sam plays the trumpet in the Marching Colts Band. Sam was the featured youth storyteller for the International Reading Association (IRA) Storytellers at the IRA 2000 National Convention in Indianapolis.
His brother, Joe Letchworth, 12, has entertained his family with his stories and impersonations for years. A seventh grader at West Jessamine Middle School in Kentucky, he draws on a wide variety of experiences – from the football field and the tennis court to the band, where he is a member of the Eastern Kentucky University Middle School Honors Band. He especially loves the creative process of writing about his reflections on life. He has performed at churches and drama conferences from the Rockies to the Atlantic Ocean. He is also a member of the Duke University Talent Identification Program.
Megan Lu, 13, comes from mainland China from the city of Hangzhou, but she currently lives in Los Alamos, N.M., with her scientist father, mother and younger sister. She is interested in all aspects of performing arts, having studied violin for five years. She is also active in the middle school choir and the drama class, where she was recently seen as a lead in the class murder mystery. In the future, she hopes to pursue a career in medicine, specializing in pediatrics.
Cody Soukup, 17, an eleventh grader from Nevada, Mo., enjoys telling stories for fun and pleasure. She has been greatly influenced by her teacher, Sue Godsey, and attributes much of her storytelling success to Godsey's guidance and support. She has fun experimenting with stories, both traditional and literary.
Cedricka Spencer, 11, is a fifth grader at Cahoon Elementary School, Tampa, Fla. Part of her inspiration for learning to tell stories was hearing the storytelling tapes of her cousin, Len Cabral, who has been a featured teller at the National Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough. She has participated in the Tampa-Hillsborough County Storytelling Festival since she was six years old, and she was featured on center stage during the opening ceremonies of that festival in 1999 as an outstanding Festival Quality Youth Storyteller.
Nicola Rose Walters, 12 is originally from Perth, Australia, and she has lived in many different places in the USA. She currently resides in Los Alamos, N.M., with her parents, her sister and two cats. She is in the seventh grade at Los Alamos Middle School, where she enjoys reading, writing, and speech and drama. She also enjoys computers, basketball, soccer, skating and skiing and is an enthusiastic member of her school tennis team. She plays violin for her school orchestra and has performed in several concerts. She is a third-year member of Student Council, having served as president for one year.