Ridge High School Italian Student Wins Trip to Italy

Some exams, you take in a place -- usually school. Other exams take you places --
sometimes magical ones.

As they do every year, Ridge High School Italian language students sat for the National
Italian Exam (NIE), sponsored by The American Association of Teachers of
Italian (AATI). More than 5,500 students from across the country and Puerto
Rico participated. The exam highlights student achievement and promotes
enjoyment of Italian language and culture. There are prizes -- medals,
certificates, monetary rewards -- but the stuff of dreams are the scholarships
for two-week study-abroad programs in Italy. The top participant in each level,
ranging from 1-5, gets the coveted trip.

Ridge students always perform very well on the NIE, earning bronze, silver and gold
medals. But this year, for the first time in Ridge’s history, senior
advanced placement Italian student Ciarra Criscione won the award for the
highest score on the Level 5 exam. She is heading off to study for 14 days in
the historic Recanati, a castle-studded medieval town in Italy’s history-laden
Marche region. Besides the free lodging and tuition, Ciarra takes with her $100
cash for scoring in the 99th percentile.

These extensive awards could not have been possible without the guidance of Mrs.
Stotler, the district’s World Languages supervisor, and the skills and passion
of her Italian teachers at William Annin Middle School and Ridge High School.
Signora Bruni ignited Ciarra’s passion for la bella lingua in 6th grade
with her enthusiasm for her native language, using catchy tunes and videos that
introduced and rapidly expanded grammar and vocabulary.

At Ridge, it was Signora Bologno’s rigor, skill, energy, and compassion for her students
that spurred further learning success. Utilizing teaching methods that would
appeal to teenagers, Signora Bologno leveraged Google Classroom,
interdisciplinary connections, and advanced technological strategies to prepare
students for the AP exam.

Ciarra made the best of an opportunity to enhance her learning through a three-week
summer study program organized by Signora Kupiec, another Italian and Spanish
teacher at Ridge. She improved her vocabulary and listening skills by following
Italian celebrities on Instagram, such as Fedez & Chiara Ferragni, and by
watching Italian TV shows such as X Factor Italia and The Voice Italia.
When asked to reflect on her Italian studies Ciarra replied, “learning
Italian didn’t seem like work!”

Together, the Ridge Italian department’s can-do attitude plus the AATI study-abroad
scholarship opportunities foster future growth of Basking Ridge’s Italian
program.

Grazie mille a tutti!