The German Club returned with the most trophies of any school that participated in High School German Day at the University of Illinois Chicago last week.

“We had individuals place first for cover art, second for poetry recitation, third for the spelling bee, and the group that made the video advertisement placed first,” Curry said. “Overall, our school tied for the most number of trophies won.”

The German Day competition consisted of a handful of contests such as a spelling bee, poetry recitation, culture essay, skits in German, city guide, and cover art design for the program according to Maddie Currie, senior.

Currie went on to win the third place trophy in the spelling bee, and says that it took more preparation than one might think.

“We start having meetings and signing up for events a few months ahead of time,” Currie said. “For the spelling bee we had a list of German words to study on our own and during our meetings, Herr Ziarnik (German teacher), would quiz me and the other person competing [Alex Kozlowski] on the words.”

During the competition, Curry and other students who competed were judged in a variety of ways before locking in their trophies.

“The video and cover art winners are decided beforehand by judges, and the spelling bee is scored like a typical spelling bee but in German and spelling German words,” Currie said. “For the poetry and skits, they are seen by a group of judges who pick three finalists from each category. Then a new group of judges who are usually from German, Swiss, or Austrian consulates or organizations see them again in front of everybody and decide on placements.”

While Currie said it was great to place in the spelling bee, she says the best part was getting to experience the day amongst people who enjoyed the event as much as she did.

“I really liked being able to speak German with so many people and listening to professors and native speakers,” Currie said. “Also, seeing the final skits, poetry, and everything and being able to understand them in German was really cool.”