The Eagle Eye

Issue date: 11/12/09 Section: Arts & Entertainment

Media Credit: Lyndsey Hewitt From left: Dr. Damarys Lopez, President Hannah Stebick, Vice President Abby Lawless, Secretary Chris Dubbs, Treasurer Ana Neupauer, and Dr. Enrique Herrera. Drs. Lopez and Herrera are the Spanish Club advisors.

Media Credit: Lyndsey Hewitt Spanish Club officers, Drs. Lopez and Herrera, Spanish festival participants, and Spanish 3 students gather for a group photo.

Lock Haven students, professors, and area high school students were given the opportunity to dive into Spanish culture on November 5 in the PUB. This was the second annual Spanish Festival to date organized by the Spanish Club, and it is planned to continue into the future because of the great success the festival proved to be.

Approximately 100 people filled the PUB MPR to enjoy the diverse atmosphere, not just with the people, but the exquisite Spanish food dishes, musical acts, and more. Students and teachers from State College, Bald Eagle Area and Central Mountain High School were also guests at the festival among the many LHU students and professors.

Students from LHU Spanish courses taught by Professor Herrera and Professor Lopez were given the chance to perform a made-up Spanish skit in front of their classes earlier in the semester. Each group of students was judged by their fellow classmates, and the winners were able to advance to perform in the Spanish Festival. At the festival, they would be judged and prizes such as dictionaries, cookbooks, shirts and a sweatshirt were awarded, which were graciously donated by the Foreign Language Department and the LHU Bookstore.

Lock Haven University freshman, Sarah Hammond, is a student in Professor Lopez's Spanish 3 class. She and two other students from the class formed a group and played a song titled "First Semester of Spanish Love Song", which won the class' vote to advance them to perform at the Spanish Festival.

"Our song got a lot of laughs. It was pretty funny. I was nervous, I didn't expect so many people to be there," admits Hammond.

The skits at the festival were judged and two group winners were selected. First place group was Nache C. Rennick and Cherrese J. Kinard, who danced to a song called "Mi Primer Millon."

"The winner of the festival had a very nice combo of dancing and performing," said Professor Herrera.

Second place went to Marissa Barnhart, Elizabeth A. Bonfati, Lindsey M. Shaffer and Cristopher S. Balch, who performed a parody called "En el Titanico."

Various prizes were also awarded to the Spanish food dishes.

Prizes went to: Lina Gunns, Josefina Schmouder, Ariana Finelli, Elise Gettler, and Ashleigh DeLuca.

"We thought the festival was very successful overall. Everyone did a great job with their skits and the food they prepared. It made it very difficult for us to judge which ones should win prizes," said Hannah Stebick, the president of the Spanish Club at LHU.

Next year, the Spanish Club plans to continue the Spanish Festival, which was originally thought of by Professor Herrera.

"We would like to thank everyone who took the time to prepare a performance or dish. The festival wouldn't have been so successful without all the time the students put into it. Everyone did such a great job. Next year we are planning to do a similar format, however, we'll need to find a bigger room to accommodate all of our guests," said Hannah Stebick.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools