Press release:

Two Highline students were awarded first place honors in the state-wide literary competition “Escribo en español” for writing by native speakers of Spanish.

Annie Araya, a senior at Global Connections High School, won first place in the prose category. Highline High School’s Yohan Lara, a junior, took first place for poetry.

Highline High School had two other winners: Junior Ileana Vega took second place and junior Sara Chang received honorable mention, both for poetry. Global Connections junior Andrea Sánchez received honorable mention for her prose entry.

The contest was sponsored by the Center for Spanish Studies, a partnership between the University of Washington and the Embassy of Spain. The theme of this year’s competition was “My Life in Ten Years.”

“[Annie and Andrea] were very excited to be recognized for their writing skills in their first language,” says Global Connections teacher Jennifer Wittenberg. Annie will attend the University of Washington in the fall.

“Our students were extremely proud to have their work win awards and to see it compiled in a formal collection,” says Highline High teacher KiKi Canton. “Illeana attended the awards ceremony with her family. She was thrilled to hear [State Schools Superintendent] Randy Dorn discuss the importance of bi-lingual education in our state.”

The awards ceremony took place in the state legislative building in Olympia on June 9. Awards were presented by Anthony Geist and Maria Gillman of the Spanish and Portuguese Studies department at the University of Washington, as well as Superintendent Dorn and representatives from the Education Office of the Spanish embassy.