Hinsdale South Students Excel in World Languages

HINSDALE, IL - Several World Languages students from Hinsdale South High School have attained national recognition for excellent performance on the 2017 National Examinations.

According to a release, some of Hinsdale South’s Spanish students competed in the National Spanish Examination sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. The National Spanish Examinations are online, standardized assessment tools for Grades 6 -12, given voluntarily by over 3,800 teachers throughout the United States to measure proficiency and achievement of students who are studying Spanish as a second language.

This year, more than 6,000 students in Chicago and the surrounding suburbs from 68 different schools took the exam in levels 1 through 6, according to a release. The top scoring students in each level will receive cash prizes and will be honored at the AATSP Chicago Area Chapter Awards Ceremony on Saturday, May 13 at Niles North High School.

Results of Amy Piccoli’s students are as follows:

Spanish III Chicago Area Contest:

• Excelente – Alyssa Timko ($50 prize)
• Excelente – Giancarlo Palmiotti ($50 prize)
• Notable – Courtney Fung ($30 prize)
• Notable – Ugonna Nwakudu ($30 prize)
• Notable - Alexandru Grindeanu ($30 prize)

Spanish IV Chicago Area Chapter Contest:

• Sobresaliente – Sarah Salvato ($80 prize)
• Notable – Natalie Axelrod ($30 prize)
• Notable – Elizabeth Lowery ($30 prize)

Spanish III National Exam Results:

• Premio de oro (95th percentile and above): Tanner Booth, Courtney Fung, Olga Giza, Amanda Hultmark, Rachel Ng, Ugonna Nwakudu, Nikola Petrovic, Alyssa Timko, Alexandru Grindeanu and Giancarlo Palmiotti.
• Premio de plata (85th-94th percentile): Basem Altarshan, Jerry Chen, Agata Mikos, Darius Poskus and Elizabeth Trbovic.
• Premio de bronce (75th-84th percentile): Kevin Joseph, Vanessa Lekecinskaite, Abhinav Sriram and Clarice Tacadena.
• Premio de honor (50th-74th percentile): Jessica Duan, Jessica Hendrickson, Jaela Hodges, Helena Janev, Michael McCormack, Marta Mikos and Cristo Cervantes.

Spanish IV National Exam Results:

• Premio de oro (95th percentile and above): Natalie Axelrod, Naomi Boye, Seweryn Ciskowski, Allison Early, Erin Haney, William Hawley, Daniel Kassl, Michelle Lin, Elizabeth Lowery, Sarah Salvato and Namit Sambare.
• Premio de plata (85th-94th percentile): Emma Axelrod, Bethany Baudhuin, Vishnu Chakroborty, Neha Chinwalla, Haley Der, Meena Deshpande, William Hogan, Mahi Joshi, Batul Karimi, Egle Markus, Carly Sattler and Easa Aristizabal.
• Premio de bronce (75th-84th percentile): Shaun Chander, Shannon Ferguson, Ahyen Labanan, Robert Leone, Tyler Matsunaga, Stanley Peng, Afshan Razzaq, Annjay Tabbilos and Jessica Matis.
• Premio de Honor: (50th-74th percentile): Maureen Christofaro, Colleen Collins, Jennifer Griffin, Erica Hoffman, Colton Kotecki, Destin Talbert and Ross Wenkus.

Results of Fran Mirro’s students are as follows:

Spanish II Honors National Exam Results:

• Premio de oro (95th percentile and above): Brooke Albert, Michael Colant, David Green, Kennedy Hagen, Kaitlyn Hurka, Benjamin Metzger and Aileen Medrano.
• Premio de plata (85th-94th percentile): Calvin Czapko, Izabela Dimevska, Michael Garay, Adan Amaro, Leila Larson, Marina Milovanovic, Emma Pelini, Ingrid Soare and Joann Tabbilos.
• Premio de bronce: (75th-84th percentile): Sierra Carder, Alayna Chavez, Keelyn Cranley, Liliana Gaibu, Elizabeth Janecek, Kristina Martinet, Jennalyn Mendiola, Diocelina Padilla, Spencer Staak and Angelina Bucio.
• Premio de Honor: (50th-74th percentile): Juliana Balagat, Katherine Carder, Harsh Chokshi, Aleksa Gujanicic, Ian LaPat, Heather McDavid, Isabella Botero and Alyssa Marquez.

Spanish V National Exam Results:

• Premio de oro: (95th percentile and above): Adrianna Glisan.
• Premio de plata: (85th-94th percentile): Emily Albert and Samantha Hendrickson.
• Premio de bronce: (75th-84th percentile): Katarina Martinet and Maryann Tharian.
• Premio de Honor: (50th-74th percentile): Nicholas Rodriguez.

In addition, Ivana Suska submitted an outstanding poster in the AATSP Poster Contest and has been awarded a first place ribbon. She was also recognized as a grand prize winner, earning a $50 prize. She is a Spanish V student in Fran Mirro’s class.

According to a release, the following students in Dr. Peter DeRousse’s Latin classes took the National Latin Exam and received these honors.

Latin 1:

• Silver-Maxima Cum Laude: Rebecca Lowery
• Magna Cum Laude: Urte Zakarauskas, Jakub Malyskiewicz
• Cum Laude: Asharif Abbas, Taylor Johnson

Latin 1 Honors:

• Gold-Summa Cum Laude: Tony Lu
• Silver-Maxima Cum Laude: Habib Rehman

Latin II Honors:

• Gold-Summa Cum Laude: Juozas Nakvosas
• Magna Cum Laude: Elizabeth Lowery, Nathan Dahms
• Cum Laude: Patrick Savage

AP Latin:

• Gold- Summa Cum Laude: Amy Jolepalem
• Silver-Maxima Cum Laude: Nishanth Sadagopan
• Magna Cum Laude: Cameran Fran
• Cum Laude: Donovan Washington

The American Association of Teachers of German sponsors the National German Examination, according to a release. These students in Cherie Lodl’s German classes earned the following awards after completing the National German Exam.

German 2:

• Goldurkunde-Gold Medal: Vieniq Romero, Gabby Tsarouhis
• Bronzeurkunde-Bronze Medal: Skylar Stopen

German 3:

• Silberurkunde-Silver Medal: Emma Janatka

German 4:

• Silberurkunde-Silver Medal: Lauren Formanski

Image via Shutterstock.