Every word the judges hear highlights a part of her culture that she fights to keep alive and acts as a bridge to her family’s past.

For sophomore Valentina Mayhle, the German language has given her the opportunity to connect to her grandfather’s origins through competitions and classes.

“Although much of my family’s German heritage was lost across the generations before me, I feel like I am still very much connected to the culture deep down,” Mayhle said. “Small German characteristics and mannerisms inevitably did stick with the family, including a strong work ethic, diet consisting mainly of bread and the occasional German word here or there.”

Although her grandfather never learned German, his parents spoke it at home, making the language a significant part of Mayhle’s family.

“Since my grandfather passed away when I was quite young, I never really got the chance to speak to him about his German upbringing and background,” Mayhle said. “Asking my mother what she remembers about my grandfather’s life and learning German in school has become my way of connecting more deeply with this background.”

Throughout the past several years, learning the German language through TV shows – reading books and talking about her ancestry with her family – has allowed Mayhle to discover more about her family history, particularly her grandfather’s who was born to two fully German parents in Mexico. Mayhle’s German heritage inspired her to begin pursuing the language at Pin Oak Middle School and Bellaire.

“When applying for high schools, the Magnet Program at Bellaire caught my attention, and applying for it was one of the best decisions I have ever made,” Mayhle said. “I have met so many people and been given so many opportunities, such as Houstonfest, through my participation in the German program.”

Houstonfest is an annual German competition, with several events such as poetry and listening comprehension for all levels of high school German students in Houston. It took place on Feb. 7. By placing third in poetry reading and poetry memory, fifth in directed dialogue, seventh in reading comprehension and eighth in scavenger hunt, Mayhle qualified for the Texas State German Contest. At Houstonfest, her first event was a scavenger hunt, where she competed with sophomores Bryan Castro, Jimmy Royer and Ashton Larios. In this event, they had to read instructions and clues in German, which guided them around the school.

“Scavenger Hunt is the first, most complicated and only group event I signed up for,” Mayhle said. “We had a one-hour limit, and lost quite a bit of time at the beginning because the clues to the first video had led us to the wrong place. Plus, there was some confusion about looking for QR codes versus laptops. However, we got ourselves on track and we returned to a final classroom to take a quiz on what we understood.”

Mayhle claims that the most difficult event for her was directed dialogue, which required students to verbally answer three random questions. According to Mayhle, this event had the most room for error.

“This was the event that made me most nervous, because it required me to listen carefully and think quickly,” Mayhle said. “Although I had prepared my answers ahead of time, it was easy to forget words or accidentally mess up on grammar.”

Mayhle is preparing to compete at the state competition by improving her delivery of her poems and polishing her rhythm and pacing. She’s simultaneously exploring new ways to enhance her skills.

“To prepare for listening comprehension, I have started listening to television programs and movies in German,” Mayhle said. “Although I do not quite understand everything, I find that listening for repeated words and phrases that I do understand is extremely helpful.”

Click here to watch a video of Mayhle’s poetry recitation that advanced her to state.

Mayhle plans to pursue German studies after high school by spending time in Germany before studying the language at the college level.

“I would really like to reach a conversational level in the language by the time I graduate college,” Mayhle said. ”I believe I could achieve this goal by continuing to take German in college and maybe find a pen pal from Germany who I could exchange emails or letters with.”

German Teacher Hannah Henry is confident in Mayhle’s abilities to succeed in future German competitions and thrive in the language due to her perceptiveness.

“Valentina is one of my best students in Level 2. She is very quiet but is very observant and adapts to the new material well. I can teach a concept once, and she can execute it almost flawlessly,” Henry said. “She has competed in Houstonfest for two years and has always placed in the top five for her events, and I’m pretty confident that she will place top five in at least one of her events at state this year.”

Mayhle’s friend, sophomore Riley Gribbons has recognized her hard work ethic towards bettering her German and sees the importance Mayhle places on connecting with her heritage.

“She’s definitely a hard worker, and it’s really interesting that she’s trying to connect with her cultures more,” Gribbons said. “I think learning a language to connect with culture is something that people should do, just because it makes us feel more [connected] with ourselves.”

Gribbons celebrated Mayhle’s success at Houstonfest and takes pride in her friend’s ability to compete so well.

“I was really excited for her when I learned that she is going to state in four events. She works really hard on improving her German, and I think it’s really cool to see her be so successful,” Gibbons said. “I agree that becoming immersed in a language is a great thing because it’s a common ground between groups of people who may not have connected otherwise.”