“Stelllaaa!” screamed Millie Purdue, MSMS junior, at last Friday’s Stella Shouting Contest at Holly Hocks in downtown Columbus.  

This year is the 10th year that the city of Columbus has had this contest in honor of Tennessee Williams, an American playwright from Columbus, whose shouted line from “A Streetcar Named Desire” has become one of the most famous moments in theatre and movie history.  

The contest consisted of 40 participants in all, but close to half of the participants were from MSMS.  

A buzz ran through the crowd as everyone waited for it to be their turn to step up to the rug and start shouting.  As the last spot was still empty and no one looked to be going to fill it, students started shouting for Harpreet Singh, a senior at the school, to sign his name to be the last contestant. With a lot of encouragement, he agreed to be the last screamer.

All of the contestants appeared excited about the contest.  Contestant number two, Richie Anderson, said, “I came here to have fun and I’m gonna have fun!”  

Ms. Angie Jones, MSMS art teacher, was there registering the contestants and said, “This is an exciting day, and I’m excited about seeing all of the contestants.”

After all of the contestants had gone, there was a brief intermission, where many of the students enjoyed the line dance, “The Cupid Shuffle,”  while Columbus Mayor Robert E. Smith and other dignitaries judged the contest.

Some MSMS students made it to the top-5 in the competition, but out of the many Waves who screamed their loudest, a local citizen of Columbus won the competition. Despite none of the MSMS students winning the competition, students had a great time at the event and are already looking forward to it again next year.

Gallery • 18 Photos

Courtesy of Peter Nguyen

Alan Elgin