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HARLINGEN — “Steel Magnolias.”
Remember that movie with a star-studded cast of strong women — Sally Field, Julia Roberts, Daryl Hannah, Shirley MacLane, to name a few — and the power and the passion of their stories?
Well, the Harlingen school district has a few “Steel Magnolias” of its own and they’ve been showing their mettle in a big way. Four of them — Azeneth Corrales, Carolina Kortan, Anasofia Corrales and Karina Corrales — have taken first place in duo interpretation at two separate speech, drama and debate contests.
This is all very impressive on its own but take another look at the last names: Corrales and Kortan. What makes this story stand out from the usual speech, drama and debate successes is that Azeneth and her sister Anasofia both won championships in two separate contests in two separate cities and so did the Kortan sisters.
“I am just so proud of both of them,” said Azeneth, 15, a sophomore at Harlingen High School.
“Same here,” said Carolina, 16, a junior at the Harlingen School of Health Professions.
Azeneth and Carolina made champion for duo interpretation at the University of Texas Longhorn Classic National Invitational in Austin Dec. 2-3 for their performance of “Build the Wall.”
However, they were talking about their little sisters, Anasofia Corrales, 11, and Karina Kortan, 12, who won the same event the same weekend at the Mission High School Invitational. Anasofia, a sixth grader at Gutierrez Middle School of Arts and Sciences, delivered a piece about some quarreling neighbors; Karina performed a work taken from “Steel Magnolias.”
“Seeing them both championing at the same event that we were also winning at UT, it was just such an amazing experience,” Azeneth said. “I was just sad I wasn’t there to celebrate with them.”
Anasofia and Karina were themselves pretty proud of their achievements. They appreciated also the significance of winning the same event as their older sisters.
“I know that these girls get first place a lot of the time,” said Anasofia. “We were really excited to tell them that we got first place with them.”
Teachers and coaches and parents of the young women extolled the success of their work and the poignancy of two pairs of sisters championing in duo interpretation.
“I am so proud of Anasofia and Karina,” said Matthew Rodriguez, a first-year theatre arts teacher at Gutierrez Middle School of Arts and Sciences.
“Both students worked long hours after school in order to perfect their performances,” Rodriguez said. “Paired with their talents and support from their encouraging parents, they ranked first place in their duet acting divisions.”
The Kortan sisters are the daughters of Veronica Kortan, deputy superintendent of the Harlingen school district, and Chris Kortan, assistant principal at Harlingen School of Health Professions.
“My husband and I are forever grateful for the opportunities this wonderful district has afforded our girls and in particular Coaches Esparza and Bender at HHS,” said Veronica Kortan.
Christopher Esparza is a theater director at Harlingen school district and Julia Bender is the theatre director and speech and drama coach at HHS. consultant.
“Their coaches and the … entire fine arts team as made such a difference in the lives of so many students and we’re blessed beyond measure,” Kortan continued. “Being part of the arts has built so much confidence in our girls and they have both gained skills they will use the rest of their lives.”
