For over a century, The Georgia High School Association has held an annual Literary Competition for high school students to showcase their talents in areas such as writing, speech, singing and dramatic interpretation. Students from schools in each GHSA region compete and represent their schools in hopes of winning the region championship and having a chance to compete at the state competition. The competition is structured much like a track meet, with individual top four finishes at the region competition earning points for the team. The team with the most points at the end of the day wins the region championship and moves on to the state championship.
On Thursday, April 1, the BHS Literary Team competed in the region competition. This year, the region was a bit smaller than normal due to COVID, with only two other schools participating, but the competition was still fierce. The BHS team’s dominance at this year’s event propelled its streak to 18 consecutive region championships. In 2015, BHS set a record for the most consecutive state championships with seven. This year, the team hopes to extend that record-holding streak to 12 consecutive state championships. At the region championship, the team’s impressive performance earned 11 first-place finishes and one second-place finish out of 12 events to secure yet another appearance at the state competition.
This year’s team featured performances from 18 of Buford High School’s most prolific writers, speakers, actors and singers.
Senior Monroe Harless earned first place in the argumentative essay category, as well as the domestic extemporaneous speaking competition; senior Lauryn Brown finished first in the personal essay category; and senior Torin Smith earned first place in the rhetorical essay category.
Seniors Asher Thornton and Ross Wilson finished first in the duo performance category.
Senior Jack Descoteaux finished second overall in the dramatic performance category, and Sydney Holton won the humorous performance competition.
Mara Eva Cline and Dylan Appling both finished first in their respective solo categories.
The trio of Rachel Bryson, Mara Eva Cline and Alyssa Lovern won the singing trio competition.
Senior Carter Hamby finished first overall in the international extemporaneous speaking category.
Senior Mason Fenno, Dylan Appling, Geo Nam and Mauricio Garduno Rea won first place in the singing quartet competition.
We would like to congratulate all of our excellent performers for their incredible showing at the region Literary Competition, and we wish them good luck at the state competition on April 24 as they chase another title.
