Jane Mack, in an e-mail to the Variety, said that after two days of competitions, two of the students, Darvhan Moses of Mt. Carmel School, and Devonne Dotts of Calvary Christian Academy won second place in storytelling.
Kanata Omari of Marianas Baptist Academy advanced as a semifinalist in Extemporaneous Speech.
Hye Young Oh of MBA advanced as a quarterfinalist in Impromptu Speech while Matthew Lopez of Hopwood Junior High School advanced as a quarterfinalist for Dramatic Interpretation. Arianne Narvaez of Gregorio T. Camacho Elementary School qualified as a quarterfinalist in Poetry.
Accompanied by Grace Christian Academy coach Esther Manzano, the group visited the 300-year-old Living History Farms where they saw how the early Americans lived, and saw their farms, houses and the clothes they wore.
The group also visited Adventure Land, an amusement park with different rides, gift shop, restaurants and water park; the Iowa State Capitol where they saw the library, the Supreme Court and legislative offices.
Mack said it was also Manzano’s first time to judge in a national competition.
Impressions
Mack shares some impressions from the students:
“When I was on the plane, I looked down through the window and it tells me that the world is big. I was so nervous before I competed in the NJFL, but after that I got confident. I want to do better next year. I really had a good experience. I also missed rice at the restaurants!” says 14-year-old Sang Hyuk Park of Marianas Baptist Academy.
For 12-year-old Kimiko Tenorio of Grace Christian Academy, the plane ride and visiting the states for the first time was exciting.
“The competitions were exciting. I got to meet new people and make some new friends. Even though we were kind of nervous to speak in front of people we haven’t seen before, it was exciting and fun!” Tenorio said. Iowa, she added, was cold, windy and there was thunder and lightning.
“The competitors were tall!” she said.
Kanata Omori, 12, said she was disappointed at first when she did not go to the next round on the first day of competitions.
“I felt better when my coach told me that there was more competition on the next day,” Omori said.
She missed rice on her meals.
“No rice for one week — I almost died,” she said.
For Kimberly Camacho, 12, of GTC Elementary School, the trip to Des Moines, Iowa was exciting and fun.
“It took 24 hours to get there and the places we went to were really cool,” she said.
The competition day was tough, she added, but the overall the trip was awesome!
Hye Young Oh, 13, said that the NJFL team members were supportive of each other.
It was also the first time for Darvhan Augustine V. Moses, 13, to visit the mainland.
“We had a long layover in Houston, where the airport is really big. When we got to the competition, I felt nervous because of all the tall people. I didn’t know middle school people could be so tall! But when I started, I didn’t feel that nervous anymore,” Moses said.
Eron Constante, 14, of Saipan Community School said all the practices, showcases, and experiences after the CNMI regional competition were helpful.
“Considering the competition that’s here on Saipan, there’s a chance for anyone who puts in some sort of effort to get a free ticket to the states,” Constante said.
As soon as they stepped off the airport, they knew the next three days were going to be extremely tedious, he added.
“When I got to the school, I found myself as a small fish thrown into a big pond. The competition made me feel as if I was stupid, but it taught me what I needed to do when I watched the competitors in the finals,” Constante said.
He was happy that four of the team members did well. “All in all, it was a good trip,” he said.
Matthew Lopez, 14, said the NJFL trip was a success.
“I had the opportunity to compete against the best people of the U.S. It was a great experience,” he said.
The competition was tight and difficult and he was scared and nervous but he was happy the team got into the quarterfinals and semifinals.
Alina Ishikawa, 14, of Marianas Baptist Academy noticed that the daylight hours were longer and the students “talked professional.”
