Rams Receive Gold, Silver, & Bronze Awards on National Language Exams

Students at MICDS who study a world language were recognized recently for earning medals and awards for excellent performances in the National Language Exams in Spanish and French. The optional contests require demonstrations of achievement and proficiency, and multiple students scored at the highest levels to earn Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals. « This year, we had more students than ever before volunteer to participate in the national language contests for French, Latin, and Spanish, » said Patrick Huewe, JK-12 World Languages Department Chair & Upper School Spanish Teacher. « By participating in this contest, students competed against students from across the United States to measure their skills, and we are excited to see so many strong results. »

Below is the list of the awards and recipients.

National French Contest

The Grand Concours (National French Contest) is administered each year in grades six through 12 and is sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French. Students were evaluated for their written, oral, and listening comprehension skills in French. This year, over 40,000 students participated.

National awards are determined as follows:

• OR/Gold – students in the 95th percentile and above
• ARGENT/Silver – students in the 85th through 94th percentile
• BRONZE/Bronze – students in the 75th through 84th percentile

Upper School French Award Recipients

Level 2

Maddie Karr ’27, Médaille d’argent (silver)
Maahi Saini ’27, Médaille d’argent (silver)

Level 3

Aiyla Ahmad ’26, Médaille d’argent (silver)
Georgia Lochhead ’26, Médaille de bronze (bronze)
Lilia Oulamine ’26, Médaille de bronze (bronze)
Siboney Oviedo-Gray ’26, Médaille de bronze (bronze)

Level 4

Abhinav Katyal ’25, Médaille de bronze (bronze)

Level 5

Isabelle Cox-Garleanu ’26, Médaille d’or (gold)

Middle School French Award Recipients

Eighth Grade

Johanna Orwick ’28, Médaille d’argent (silver)
Simera Balci ’28, Médaille de bronze (bronze)
Andrew Li ’28, Médaille de bronze (bronze)
Samantha O’Neil ’28, Médaille de bronze (bronze)
Victoria Noble ’28, Médaille de bronze (bronze)
Lina Saracco ’28, Mention honorable (honorable mention)
Audrey Walker ’28, Mention honorable (honorable mention)
Elle Faerber ’28, Mérite (merit)
Lotsie Holton ’28, Mérite (merit)
Lucy McKean ’28, Mérite (merit)
Audrey Taves ’28, Mérite (merit)

Seventh Grade

National Spanish Exam
The National Spanish Examination is administered yearly in grades six through 12 and is sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. It is the largest of its kind in the United States, with over 150,000 students participating in 2024.

National awards are determined by the total percentile as follows:

• ORO/Gold – Students scoring at or above the 95th percentile are awarded a Premio de Oro.
• PLATA/Silver – Students scoring from the 85th through the 94th percentile receive a Premio de Plata.
• BRONCE/Bronze – Students scoring from the 75th through the 84th percentiles receive a Premio de Bronce.

Level 2 

Arissa Alpaslan ’27, Gold/Oro
Myra Arain ’27, Gold/Oro
Isha Bogachenchu ’27, Gold/Oro
Daniel Haas ’27, Silver/Plata
PeiPei Huang ’25, Silver/Plata
Amey Parwal ’27, Silver/Plata
Kaviya Senthilkumar ’27, Silver/Plata
Reina Banerjee ’27, Bronze/Bronce

Level 3

Carrie Clennan ’26, Gold/Oro
Taylor Nuzum ’26: Gold/Oro
Shil Penilla ’26: Gold/Oro
Nihaal Satwani ’26: Gold/Oro
Bella Anadkat ’26: Silver/Plata
Zoe Gannon ’26: Silver/Plata
Sean Hogan ’26: Silver/Plata
Ian Zar ’26: Silver/Plata
Alana Chandler ’26: Bronze/Bronce
Alexa Davis ’26: Bronze/Bronce
Ethan Waymire ’25: Bronze/Bronce

Level 4

Hale Foster ’25, Gold/Oro
Ryan Jan ’25, Gold/Oro
Arjun Puri ’25, Gold/Oro
Nina Bhayani ’25, Silver/Plata
Caroline Bryan ’25, Silver/Plata
Alexa Doumit ’25, Silver/Plata
Saivi Gadi ’25, Silver/Plata
Charlie Glass ’25, Silver/Plata
Joe Intagliata ’25, Silver/Plata
Lilly Loeb ’25, Silver/Plata
Ashley Ordoñez ’26, Silver/Plata
Jackson Vetter ’25, Silver/Plata
Hannah VanValkenburg ’25, Bronze/Bronce
Sarah Wallace ’25, Bronze/Bronce

Level 5

Chloe Davis ’24, Silver/Plata
Shivani Devrapally ’24,  Silver/Plata

Rams who study Latin also had the chance to take the National Latin Exam which was recapped in an earlier article here.

After receiving their awards, Spanish students and their peers in other language classes were invited to further celebrate the National Language Exam awards with a piñata behind May Hall. Check out all of the fun they had!

Congratulations to all of our Rams on their well-earned World Language bronze, silver, and gold awards!

*Not all students earning awards are pictured due to the timing of receiving the exam results and the AP® exams.