USC teams excel at literary festival
Upper St. Clair students earned a first place and two third-place finishes in the South Hills Literary Festival held recently at the Andrew Carnegie Free Library & Music Hall in Carnegie.
In the high school division, the high school team of Josh Beitler, Sophia Whitman and Carlee Santel placed first in the book sculpture challenge and third in the Battle of the Books. The Fort Couch team of Seth Pedretti, Will Kreizenbeck, Owen Maher, and Max Belczyk took home third in the Battle of the Books middle school division.
The event is organized and funded by the South Hills Area Gifted Teachers’ Committee. Tom Yochum, Upper St. Clair gifted education coordinator, creates many of the Battle of the Books questions and emcees the event annually.
Months of reading, book discussion, and preparation go into the event. More than 40 Upper St. Clair students read this fall’s novels.
“I’m happy for the students who placed, but truly proud of everyone involved,” Yochum said. “Teenage schedules are incredibly demanding these days and to devote time to reading several additional novels and to enjoy discussing them is something that should encourage us all.”
In total, 15 high school teams and 30 middle school teams from more than 25 school districts came together to celebrate literature and hold a Battle of the Books. Teams traveled through the library, collaborating on short stories, creating book sculptures and competing in team trivia.
This year’s theme was books that have been adapted for television or the movies.