Students recognized during annual Shakespeare contest

Several Southern Nevada students were recognized for their creative achievements at the 31st annual High School Shakespeare Competition Oct. 4-7 in Cedar City, Utah. The competition was hosted by the Utah Shakespearean Festival and Southern Utah University.

The competition featured more than 2,500 junior high and high school students from Utah, Nevada, Arizona, California, Idaho and Wisconsin. Students were recognized in acting, dance/choreography and technical theater competitions.

Palo Verde High School won third place overall and second place for ensemble in the Buckingham Division, for schools with enrollment of 2,001 or more. In addition, Jonathan D'Acunto and Amanda Mantchev of Palo Verde won second place in the Buckingham Division duo/trio competition.

The Meadows School won third place for ensemble in the Stratford Division, open to junior high and middle schools of any size.

In other youth news:

* Las Vegas twins Mollie and Jackie Singer have been named 2007 National Caring Award Young Adult Winners by the Caring Institute. The 18-year-old sisters have helped to raise awareness of diabetes and have done fundraising for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. Mollie was diagnosed with diabetes when she was 4.

Jackie and Mollie will be inducted into the Hall of Fame for Caring Americans along with four other young adult winners on Nov. 16 at the Frederick Douglass Museum & Hall of Fame for Caring Americans in Washington, D.C.

* Ashleigh Consentine, a senior at Arbor View High School, and Elizabeth Cheng, a sophomore at Clark High School, placed in the top 10 of their grade divisions in the Spring 2007 poem contest sponsored by Creative Communication Inc.

As top 10 winners, Ashleigh and Elizabeth received a $50 savings bond in addition to having their poems appear in the poem anthology "A Celebration of Young Poets." The poems were judged on their literary merit, creativity and social significance.

* Henderson resident Jenna Matsuyama, 4, is appearing in a national Hewlett-Packard commercial with Gwen Stefani and in a Duncan Hines Desserts commercial. Jenna, a preschooler at DJ's Christian Daycare/Preschool, also is a student at Kim Flowers Talent Development Academy.

* Parkdale Community Center, 3200 Ferndale St., will host a three-day baby-sitter certification course for ages 12 and older at 4 p.m. Monday and Nov. 19 and 26. In addition to teaching child care techniques, the course will offer crisis and emergency response training and instruct baby sitters on how to recognize abuse and neglect. The fee for the course is $2. For more information, call 455-7517.

If you know of a worthy candidate for this column, mail information to Youth Spotlight, Las Vegas Review-Journal, P.O. Box 70, Las Vegas, NV 89125-0070, or send faxes to 383-4676.