Huntington High School students captured a horde of medals in this year’s National Spanish Exam competition. Nearly 80 teenagers were recognized, including 18 who garnered gold, silver or bronze medals, placing them among the elite nationally.
The NSE is a series of exams for those on various levels of study. The tests, which are sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, are voluntarily administered to students in grades 6-12 across the country.
Huntington’s honorees are enrolled in classes taught by foreign language teachers Lorena Díaz, Jessica Medina, Elizabeth Casazza, Eliana Oranges and Mercy Peña.
“Participation in the exam across the country seems to increase each year, which makes the relative collective performance of Huntington students even more impressive,” Superintendent James W. Polansky said. “It’s a genuine tribute to Huntington language students, staff and programs!”
The NSE was administered in a paper form from 1957-2005 before moving to an online format. More than 3,800 teachers across the country annually participate in the NSE with their students who are studying Spanish as a second language.
“Attaining any placement or honorable mention is very prestigious,” said Kevin Cessna, national director of the exams, “because the exams are the largest of their kind in the United States with well over 156,000 students participating in 2013.”
Two of the Spanish Native II students in Ms. Diaz’s classes garnered medals in the competition including silver medalist Santos Garcia and bronze medalist Cindy Estrada. Ms. Diaz had three Spanish Native III medalists including Azucena Flores and Tatiana Valencia-Menjivar, who captured silver medals and Jessica Marroquin, who garnered a bronze medal. Jossary Bardales, Oscar Romero and Kellin Garcia claimed Level III honorable mention recognition.
Ms. Medina saw one of her Spanish Level III Honors students win a gold medal in Cesar Rivas, three capture silver medals in Charles Beers, Kaitlin Dayton and Suzanne Petryk and five qualify for bronze medals in Hillary Hardart, Omotayo Ikuomensian, Justin Loturco, Patrick Lombardi and Mary Sheehan. Honorable mention recognition went to Cristina Bateman, Tara Byrnes, Olivia Castillo, Kayla Eidle, Kylie Palmer, Madeline Riggs, Joseph Saginaw, Erica Thermidor, Lana Ziegler, Samantha Glicker and Jason Moreira.
Among Ms. Casazza’s Spanish Level II, III and IV students, Sabrina Palacios won a silver medal and Alexandra Koumas and Samuel Latt earned bronze medals. Honorable mention recognition was garnered by Yardalie Daniel, Caroline McCartney, Catherine Reilly, Jessica Straub, Ryan Bonitz, Elizabeth Coneys, Jesse Feldman-Stein, Justyn Jenkins, Jeanne Kopstein, Elisa Medina-Jaudes, Naomi Medina-Jaudes, David Alvarado, Christian Gudiel and Nashalie Camacho.
Ms. Oranges’ Spanish Level IV Honors students enjoyed sensational results, especially since many of America’s top students were among the test-takers. The teacher’s strongest finishers were gold medalist Oscar Aguilar-Cruz, silver medalists Odaly Flores, Cindy Lopez and Irma Granados and bronze medalists Alexander Castillo and Julie Gray. Honorable mention recognition went to Ariella Danziger, Michael Lonergan, Renato Aguilar, Collin Francis, Anna Garfinkel, Jeremy Gelb, Chelsea Holmes Morgan Mars, Monica Owen, Matthew Rosenbauer, Ashley Melgar, Bryant Benitez, Ashley Lopez and Leyda Mata.
Eight of Ms. Pena’s elite Advanced Placement students earned honors including gold medalists Brian Gilbert, Greta Farrell, Debbie Gomez and Rogelio Jimenez and silver medalist Thomas Rivas and honorable mention award winners Josh Morris, Leny Genao Liriano and Grixon Moreira.
Among Ms. Pena’s Spanish V Honors students, Samuel Dejoie, Maralin Ulloa and Jose Jovel captured honorable mention awards. Two of Ms. Pena’s Native Language students also earned honorable mention recognition in Lenni Joya and Leonardo Martinez.
