Struthers High School students attended the YSU English Festival on Wednesday, April 19th, and Friday, April 21st, and represented their school with pride.

Students in grades 10-12 attended the festival on Wednesday and made every session as memorable as possible. Colin Mateo and his group won honorable mentions in the Writing Games and everyone else who might not have had a physical award still participated and made their marks.

Mateo, a senior who attended, likes going to see so many different opinions and ideas about writing.

“I enjoyed going to just hang out with other friends and get an understanding of different authors and their perspectives on their creations,” says Mateo.

Freshmen attended the festival on Friday along with the middle school students, and all of them worked hard and represented Struthers in a positive way. Isabella Sahli placed 3rd in the Journalism Workshop and Melyka West won 3rd place in the No-So Trivial Pursuit.

Melyka West, a freshman that attended, was unsure of the festival at first but grew to love every experience she encountered.

“It wasn’t anything like what I expected, but it was a really fun experience being able to meet other people from different schools and talk about books. I was very nervous because I was the only person from Struthers in my group, and I didn’t know anyone. But throughout the day, it got better and it was an overall fun experience, and I will most definitely do it again next year,” says West.

Struthers has been attending the English Festival for about 45 years, since the very first festival. Every year the students make sure that Struthers shines. It’s an excellent opportunity for them to express their knowledge, show up for their school, and maybe even win some money.

Stephanie Mickler, a Struthers teacher who takes the freshmen to the festival every year, loves the English Festival and all of the interesting and positive effects it has on everyone.

“The English Festival is a really fun day to celebrate books and authors with thousands of students and teachers. I really enjoy it because students get to interact with others and maybe make some friends. Listening to the authors and their inspiration is always one of the greatest parts, in my opinion,” says Mickler.