Language Students Sweep National Competitions

St. Mark’s language students have distinguished themselves in several competitions this spring.

 

Of the 61 Marksmen who took the National Latin Exam in levels I through IV, 31 students earned a gold medal and a summa cum laude certificate; 18 earned a silver medal and a maxima cum laude certificate; four were recognized with a magna cum laude certificate; and one received a cum laude certificate. Richard Lofgren ’19, David Vallejo ’19, and Chad Kim ’19 all achieved perfect scores at level I, and Reagan Jones ’18 did so at level II. Kevin Kim ’16 and Aidan Maurstad ’16 have earned Book Awards for accumulating four gold medals on the NLE. In addition, nine Latin IA students were recognized for their performance at the introductory level. Latin IA students Pablo Arroyo ’20 and Noah Carr ’19 also earned perfect scores.
 
This spring, 153 St. Mark’s students representing six grades participated in the National Spanish Exam. Marksmen earned a total of 68 gold (95th percentile or above), 52 silver (85th through 94th percentiles), and 21 bronze medals (75th through 84th percentiles), along with 12 honorable mentions. Luke Hudspeth ’15 and James Zhang ’15 qualified to compete for the AATSP Lone Star Chapter Senior Scholarship by scoring at the 99 percentile nationally. Freshmen, sophomores, and juniors who place in the 99 percentile are eligible to apply for the chapter’s 2016 Summer Study Scholarship. Marksmen who earned that opportunity are Davis Bailey ’18, Mateo Díaz ’18, Riley Sanders ’18, Kannan Sharma ’18, Andrew Chuka ’17, Rohin Maganti ’17, Patrick Magee ’17, Chance Cooley ’16, Henry Goldberg ’16, Anvit Reddy ’16, and Eugene Song ’16.

 

Ten students competed in the National Japanese Exam. Leighton Okada ’16 and Jake Horigome-Pigg ’18 earned gold medals. Johnathon Berry ’16 and Foster Stager ’15 were recognized with silver medals, and bronze medal recipients were Justin Berry ’16, Stephen Chen ’16, Greyson Gallagher ’16, and Drew Taylor ’16. Stephen Chen earned the chance to compete for the JET Memorial Invitation Program in Japan and has advanced to the second round of competition.

 

In March, Avery Pearson ’18, Kal Buscaino ’18, and Calvin Hosler ’18 participated the Chinese Bridge Proficiency competition at UTD. Out of a group of sixteen contestants, Avery won second place and Kal and Calvin tied for third. Avery and Kal were then selected to participate in the eight-state southern regional competition, which brought together twelve secondary students at UTD. In that competition, Avery earned first place, and Kal won third. Avery has now qualified to represent the United States in the world competition in China in October.