James Clemens High School students competed at German Day 2014 at the University of Alabama. (CONTRIBUTED)

MADISON – James Clemens High School students excelled in poetry, dialogue, art and other categories at German Day 2014 at the University of Alabama.

The Jets faced peers from across Alabama in speaking, performance, written and artistic events. The convention “motivated students to use their acquired language and cultural knowledge and skills outside the classroom and celebrate world language learning,” Peggy Boynton said.

Boyton also teaches Latin and is the world language department’s content lead.

Poetry recitations, a geography quiz focusing on Salzburg, Austria and art events especially interested the Jets.

For Level 1, Cindy Ratkovich earned third place in extemporaneous reading and second place in individual poetry. The Jets aced duo dialogue with Adam Nebelsick and Dalton Ratcliffe in first and Grace Barnes and Caprice DeVore in second.

Stephen Arnsparger took first place in individual poetry. In group poetry, Christian Erickson, Lynn Xue, Alex Wilson and Stephen Arnsparger earned second place.

Other first-place winners were Klayton Riley, original art and Lynn Xue, T-shirt design. Hiba Najjar, Colleen Dunn and Bianca Escobar placed second for children’s book.

Other major events included conversation performance, musical performance, spelling bee, listening comprehension quiz and reading quiz.

“We brought home a sense of pride in our ever-growing German program,” Boyton said. “The students felt truly proud to have put the language skills that they have been developing over the course of the school year to the test and succeed.”

Entering the event allowed the Jets to work with pieces of authentic literature that they might not cover in class. They “deeply explored culture and geography of Salzburg (for the) geography quiz,” Boynton said. “We’re looking forward to next year’s competition and planning an even bigger team and more participation.”

James Clemens will attend the Latin Convention, “The Founding of a City {Rome},” on April 25-26 at Hoover High School. In Level 2, 16 Jets will enter athletic, academic and artistic Olympiads; academic quiz bowl; and cultural events.