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Student News and Awards, 2006-2007


The following Form VI students were inducted into the Cum Laude Society: Samuel Adriance, Ishita Bali, Catherine Chong, Nicholas Culbertson, Alexander Gumport, Max Gumport, Sandra Hough, Hadley Johnson, Brian Murphy, Christopher Scavone, John Scrudato, Jeffrey Zimering, and Elizabeth Zoidis. The following Form V students were inducted into the Cum Laude Society: Robert Blatt, Andrew Cala, Olivia Delia, Jenna Devine, Martha Gross, Evan Rosenman, Taylor Sankovich, Darina Shtrakhman, Adrienne Spiegel, Trevor Topf, Samuel Williams, and David Young. (Posted: July 18, 2007)

Brittany Waser, Form V student, achieved the silver medal level of the Congressional Award. Congressman Michael Ferguson, representing the 7th Congressional District of New Jersey, will present Brittany with the award at a special ceremony in the fall of 2007. The Congressional Award, a national recognition, is unique because it is earned—not won. The Congressional Award is chartered by Congress and recognizes young people, ages 14 – 23, for achieving their individual goals in the four program areas: volunteer public service, personal development, physical fitness, and expedition/exploration. Brittany began setting her goals in 2003 and, in the ensuing four years, progressed through earning the bronze, silver, and gold certificates, before earning the bronze and silver medals. “The award takes Pingry’s requirements of community service and physical fitness to a higher level. The ECLC tutoring program and the Animal Community Service Club here at Pingry were springboards that really sparked my interest in volunteerism,” says Brittany. For her volunteer public service, Brittany gave 200 hours of her time helping nursing home residents, tutoring disadvantaged children, and assisting at the Somerset County Handicapped Riding Center. For her physical fitness requirements, Brittany’s years of equestrian training and competitions (450 hours) helped her meet her goals. In the personal development category, the 100 hours Brittany devoted to learning her flute at Pingry and studying her Eastern Orthodox Christian religion counted toward the requirements. For the area of exploration, Brittany planned a road trip to research colleges. “The beauty of the Congressional Award is the flexibility to pursue your own interests. I am very goal oriented, so I had fun while achieving the levels of the award, and I learned more about myself in the process,” states Brittany. (Posted: July 13, 2007)

The National Latin Exam is offered under the joint sponsorship of the American Classical League and the National Junior Classical League. More than 134,000 students from all 50 states and 13 foreign countries took this year’s National Latin Exam. Pingry had 268 participants. Of the 172 Middle School student participants, 99 students received ribbons, certificates, and medals. There were nine gold medal and summa cum laude certificates, and the winners include: Gold Medal: Robert Blatt, Form V, Brian Fischer, Form II, Sam Fisher, Form III, Amanda Haltmaier, Form II, Emily Gilbert, Form III, Victoria Meyer, Form II, Yamini Nabar, Form III, Matthew Rybak, Form IV, Adrienne Spiegel, Form V Silver Medal: Jeffrey Baum, Form II, Joel Behrman, Form IV, Myles Bristow, Form III, Amanda Devine, Form II, Ana Duarte-Silva Barry, Form V, Ashley Feng, Form II, William Fischer, Form II, Henry Gadsden, Form II, Henrietta Hakes, Form IV, Lillian Holman, Form II, Maxwell Ingrassia, Form II, Lucas Johnston, Form II, Anna Kamen, Form II, Aly Kerr, Form V, Jeanee Lee, Form II, Albert Magnell, Form II, Kasra Manoocheri, Form II, Kaela O’Connor, Form II, Caroline Pinke, Form V, Julian Quintanilla, Form VI, Phil Ryan, Form III, Taylor Shepard, Form II, Taylor Smith, Form II, Kristen Tripicchio, Form II, Tyler Zoidis, Form VI (Posted: May 25, 2007)

Le Grand Concours, or National French Contest, is a French event in the form of a 60 minute national examination, designed, written, financed, and disseminated by the members of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF). Its purpose is to help stimulate further interest in the teaching and learning of French and to help identify and reward achievement on the part of both students and teachers. Level Five: Ishita Bali, Form VI (9^th place), Megan Craighead, Form VI (6^th place), Sandra Hough, Form VI (10^th place), Amanda King, Form VI (7^th place), Brian Murphy, Form VI (6^th place), Ajay Tungare, Form VI (6^th place) Level Four: Ijeoma Eboh, Form V (9^th place), Midori Wada, Form V (10^th place) Level Three: Kate Dreyfuss, Form III (5^th place), Audrey Li, Form IV (3^rd place), Ian Martin-Katz, Form IV (9^th place), Averill Morash, Form IV (10^th place), Angela Ramirez, Form V (10^th place) Level Two: Devlin Murphy, Form IV (9^th place), Andrew Sartorios, Form IV (5^th place), Dylan Sun, Form I (6^th place) Level One (Upper School): Victoria Lee, Form III (9^th place), Lillie Ricciardi, Form III (9^th place), Emily Xia, Form III (3^rd place) Level One (Middle School): Ashley Feng, Form II (2^nd place), Lucas Johnston, Form II (10^th place), Amanda Haltmaier, Form II (7^th place), Anna Kamen, Form II (7^th place), Victoria Meyer, Form II (2^nd place), Katherine O’Connor, Form II (8^th place), Vitor Oliveira, Form II (7^th place), Alexandra Rajan, Form II (3^rd place), Taylor Shepard, Form II (3^rd place), Rebecca Youngdahl, Form II (8^th place) (Posted: May 25, 2007)

Thirty-six Pingry seniors have been honored by the College Board for their exceptional achievement on the college-level Advanced Placement (AP) Examinations. Five Pingry students were honored with the Scholar with Distinction Award, earning an average grade of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken and grades of 3 or higher on five or more exams. Eleven students achieved the Scholar with Honors designation, earning an average grade of at least 3.25 on all AP Exams taken, and grades of 3 or higher on four or more exams. Nineteen students were recognized as AP Scholars, completing three or more AP Exams, with grades of 3 or higher. Amanda King received the highest award, the National Scholar Award. The National Scholar Award is awarded to students who earn an average grade of 4 or higher on a 5-point scale on all AP exams taken and grades of 4 or higher on eight or more exams. The College Board's Advanced Placement Program offers students the opportunity to take challenging college-level courses while still in high school, and to receive college credit, advanced placement, or both for successful performance on the AP Exams. About 18 percent of the more than 1.3 million high school students in 16,000 secondary schools worldwide who took AP Exams performed at a sufficiently high level to merit the recognition of AP Scholar. AP Exams are taken during the spring of students’ junior year. The 2007 recipients are Ishita Bali (Scholar), Catherine Chong (Scholar With Honor), Isaac Davis (Scholar With Distinction), Gabrielle Fernando (Scholar With Distinction), Zachary Flowerman (Scholar), Joshua Freedman (Scholar), Alexander Gumport (Scholar With Honor), Max Gumport (Scholar), Genevieve Haverstick (Scholar), Jordan Homer (Scholar), Scott Hope (Scholar), Maximilian Horlbeck (Scholar With Honor), Sandra Hough (Scholar), Corinne Hundt (Scholar), Ariana Jackson (Scholar), Hadley Johnson (Scholar), Amanda King (Scholar With Distinction, AP National Scholar), John Kolb (Scholar With Distinction), Emily Lang (Scholar With Honor), Melissa Loewinger (Scholar With Honors), Jillian Lubetkin (Scholar With Honor), Shannon Mich (Scholar), Stephanie Naratil (Scholar), Valerie Naratil (Scholar), Mai-Yin Picard (Scholar), Harrison Polans (Scholar With Distinction), Julian Quintanilla (Scholar With Honor), Jonathan Reef (Scholar With Honor), Christopher Scavone (Scholar), John Scrudato (Scholar With Distinction), Ekta Sharma (Scholar With Honor), Annabell Suh (Scholar With Honor), Erin Toner (Scholar), Ajay Tungare (Scholar With Distinction), Samuel Waterbury (Scholar), and Elizabeth Zoidis (Scholar With Honor). (Posted: February 1, 2007)

Thirteen Pingry seniors have been named Edward J. Bloustein Distinguished Scholars by the State of New Jersey. Bloustein Distinguished Scholars are in the top 10 percent of their classes and have a minimum combined math and reading SAT score of 1206 or higher or are ranked first, second, or third in their classes at the end of junior year. Distinguished Scholars receive an annual scholarship of $1,000 for up to four years of undergraduate study, without regard to financial need at an approved New Jersey college or university. The 2007 recipients are Gabriel Fernando, Sandra Hough, Amanda King, John Kolb, Melissa Loewinger, Jillian Lubetkin, Brian Murphy, Stephanie Naratil, Valerie Naratil, Jonathan Reef, Ajay Tungare, Jeff Zimering, and Elizabeth Zoidis. (Posted: February 1, 2007)

Brian O’Toole (V) and Alexandra Kerr (V) were among the first 47 recipients of The United States Squash Scholar Athlete Awards by the United States Squash Racquets Association (USSRA). The USSRA is the national governing body and membership organization for the sport of squash in the United States. The awards are given to high school student athletes who have a GPA of 3.5 or higher and achieved a final season ranking as a squash player at the end of the current season by playing at least four sanctioned tournaments. (Posted: October 24, 2006)

The following students were recognized in the 2005-2006 Le Grand Concours, an annual competition in which students demonstrate competence in French grammar, reading, and listening comprehension: Level 1: Susan Contess (II), Brian Green (III), Morgan McCollum (III), Rainie Opel (III), Luke Pounder (III), Gabriella Scrudato (III), and Remy Teicher (III) Level 2: Maya Artis (IV), Marguerite Bonadies (IV), Ian Martin Katz (IV), Audrey Li (IV), Averill Morash (IV), and Angela Ramirez (V) Level 3: Rebecca Behrman (V), Ijeoma Eboh (V), John Guiffre (V), Angela Hui (V), Lauren Kronthal (V), Marguerite Mole (V), Danika Paulo (V), Annabel Suh (VI), Jessica Westerman (V), Jessica Zhao (V), and Melinda Zoephel (V) Level 4: Sandra Hough (VI), Hadley Johnson (VI), Brian Murphy (VI), and Ajay Tungare (VI) (Posted: October 24, 2006)