Students throughout Elwood Middle School and Elwood-John H. Glenn High School recently received top scores on the 2017 National Spanish Examinations. Five eighth-graders, four freshmen and three sophomores attained national recognition by earning a gold medal for their excellent performance.

At the middle school level, seventh and eighth-graders prepared for the exam with the help of Spanish teachers Jennifer Vacchio and Valentina Parisi. Gold medal winners included eighth-graders Lizbeth Almendarez, Andrew Mullan, Daniel Mullan, Rithika Narayan and Daniel Rourke. Between both grades, students earned a total of five gold, four silver and six bronze medals along with 17 honorable mentions. A number of students also received a certificate of participation for their effort on the exam.

At the high school level, freshmen Ivan Andrade, Kerri Rhatigan, Elena Somoza, Ava Wilkinson and sophomores Bailey Leunig, Jaida Morgan and Meaghan Rivardo received a gold medal for placing in the 95th percentile or higher nationwide.

Under the guidance of their Spanish teachers Sheri Davis, Nicole Gendjoian and Diane Warren, the high school earned a total of seven gold, 22 silver and 23 bronze medals along with 43 honorable mentions.

The National Spanish Examinations are administered each year in grades seven through 12 and are sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.

“Attaining a medal or honorable mention for any student on the National Spanish Examinations is very prestigious,” said National Director of the Exams Kevin Cessna-Buscemi. “The exams are the largest of their kind in the United States with over 157,000 students participating in 2017.”