Eighth Graders Excel on National Spanish Exam

Congratulations to eighth grade World Language students in Vicky Linardos', JoAnn Porter's and Donna Scarola's classes from Garden City Middle School who attained national recognition for excellent performance on the 2010 National Spanish Examination.

Students from Garden City Middle School earned a total of eight gold, 20 silver and 19 bronze medals along with 26 honorable mentions. 

"Attaining a medal or honorable mention for any student on the National Spanish Examinations is very prestigious," says Kevin Cessna-Buscemi, national director of the exams, "because the exams are the largest of their kind in the United States, with 125,915 students participating in 2010."

The National Spanish Examinations are sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. Garden City's eight gold medalists were honored at an awards reception at Jericho High School on Wednesday, June 9.

The following is a list of winners on the 2010 National Spanish examination:

Gold (oro) Medal: Chris Connolly, Drusilla Falco, Katherine McGannon - tied for second place in Nassau County, Steven Mennelly, Teresa Pietromonaco, James Reilly, Kelly Tierney - tied for second place in Nassau County, and Jon Toto.

Silver (plata) Medal: Alexia Arena, Leila Balady, Brian Bingham, Michael Catalano, Iris Chang, Tara De Angelo, Mark DeSantis, Julia Dignam, Caitlin Gallant, Jordan Hand, Matthew Kelly, Joseph Lozano, Daniel McElroy, John Michon, Kelly O'Donnell, Katharine O'Neill, Grace Parks, Caitlin Rieger, Rosemary Tomao and Michael Vinci.

Bronze (bronce) Medal: Nayeem Baksh, Anne Blanco, James Dutton, Cody George, Emily Giordano, Kaitlyn Gorman, Matthew Greene, Ryan Guarino, Erin Hollis, Paige Lopez, Katherine Malhame, Regan Marooney, Sarah McCabe, Madeline McGuire, Kristen Noonan, Matthew Pena, Erin Pfail, Sabrina Singh, and Halle Waitkus. Honorable Mention: Justin Bergson, Brittany Burke, Kieran Byrnes, Michael Cassano, Michael Collins, Daniel Combatti, Casey Cullen, Kaitlin Emmert, Michele Gaine, Connor George, Brianne Griffith, Amber Henriquez, Kelly Lawkins, Jennifer Leary, Connor McCullough, Jessica Mero, Christopher Miserere, Kevin Mullin, Grace Murolo, Michael Murphy, Gavin Philippas, Kristen Rasquin, Caitlinn Reidell, Sara Ruhl, Steven Wald and Anthony Zinga.

Certificates of Participation: Ryan Blair, Conor Burke, Taylor Carpentier, Joseph Creighton, Harry Demiris, Kristen Fitzsimmons, Sage Fuller, Kyle Harder, Zachary Kolsen, Allison LaGueux, Juliana Liberti, Kayla Murphy, Catherine Reddington, Nicolas Sampogne, Kelsey Seiferth, Mackenzie Shine, Meredith Shine, Marissa Terrill, Anthony Velez and Samantha Volpe.