Students in Deborah Unger’s gifted English classes at Hahnville High who placed first, second and third in the Louisiana Writes Contest were awarded medals and prizes at the 2012 Louisiana Book Festival in Baton Rouge. During the ceremony at the Louisiana State Museum, Unger’s first-place-winning students read excerpts from their winning entries.

Claudette Breaux, who won first place in ninth- and 10th-grade poetry category, read her poem “Biology.” Katherine Hymel, who won first place in 11th- and 12th-grade fiction category, read from her short story “Cry of the Components.” Kathryn Prendergast, who won first place in 11th- and 12th-grade non-fiction category, read from her non-fiction piece “Catch Your Breath.” Unger’s additional winners were Prendergast, second place in 11th- and 12th-grade fiction category; Daniel Levy, second and third place in ninth- and 10th-grade poetry category for poems “Snow Fall” and “Toledo’s Hills,” and Caitlin Mikesell, third place in ninth- and 10th-grade non-fiction category for “Creepy Crawling Creatures.”