Striving for Excellence – Ranney Student Achievements

During this very busy time of the school year, amid induction and graduation ceremonies, and musical performances, Ranney students continue to thrive and excel in academics, arts and athletics. The following are just a few recent exceptional student achievements:

Academics

• Congratulations to 7th graders Milan Genovese and Hailey Maher who were both recently named winners in the Luna Kaufman Writing Contest for 2010. The Luna Kaufman Writing Contest is sponsored by the Holocaust, Genocide, and Human Rights Education Center at Brookdale Community College and named in honor of Luna Kaufman, Holocaust survivor and pioneer in Holocaust Education. The annual contest is open to students in grades 5 through college and includes research, creative writing, and both two and three dimensional art.

This is great news for Milan and her teacher, Mrs. Allison Reddington, especially considering this is the second contest she has won recently. Mrs. Reddington informed me this afternoon that she is also the recent winner of a poetry contest and is forwarding me the details.

• For the fourth consecutive year, Ranney students participated in the National French Exam, Le Grand Concours, an annual competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF). French students in grades 1-12, in all 50 states and abroad, competed against each other in a contest that measures reading comprehension, writing proficiency, and knowledge of vocabulary.

 

At the elementary level, nineteen 5th graders participated in the test, an increase of 13 students from last year’s exam, with three of those students reaching the top 10 ranking among peer students across the country.

Evan Kumar and Caroline Billyard earned a 7th place national ranking.

Olivia Nisbet earned an 8th place national ranking.

All of our Lower School students fared well, placing Ranney Lower School students at a 15th place national ranking.

Five of the 17 Ranney Middle School students who took the National French Exam this past March achieved top ten rankings in the state of New Jersey as well as nationally.

Madison Boyan ranked 2nd in New Jersey and 3rd in the nation (95%tile)

Michael Kumar ranked 5th in New Jersey and 6th in the nation. (95%tile)

Nicolas Podesta ranked 6th in New Jersey and 7th in the nation. (95%tile)

Shawna Singh ranked 10th in New Jersey and 11th in the nation. (90% in state)

Dylan Staats ranked 10th in New Jersey and 11th in the nation. (90% in state)

All 8th graders in Madame Moran’s class took the high school Level 1 Exam, joining the more than 600 students took that level in New Jersey and the more than 24,000 students throughout the world.

Because of their ranking in the top five in the state, Madison and Michael have been invited to an awards ceremony called “Remise des Prix” at Rutgers University on Thursday, May 20 at 7:00 p.m. This is a special year because Ranney now has two students who are eligible to attend the ceremony. The ceremony is hosted by the AATF, New Jersey Chapter. Speakers and presenters from the French Consulate, the Quebec Consulate, and Rutgers World Language Department present prizes to all the New Jersey winners at all levels including certificates, medals, books, DVDs, trips, and scholarships.

Félicitations les étudiants et au Mde. Rosenthal et Mde. Moran!

Fine and Performing Arts

• Tor Miller ‘13, Mike Morrongiello ‘12, Val Kharkover ‘13, Evan Glazman ‘13, Joe DiSalvo ‘12 and alumnus Ian Bamberger – otherwise known as The Tor Miller Band, recently performed in The Break Contest and won the opportunity to perform at the two-day Bamboozle Music Festival at the Meadowlands Sports Complex on May 1, 2010. Mike, Val, and Evan are members of the Ranney Tri-M Chapter and Tor and Joe will be inducted into Tri-M this year.

• In March, the artwork of talented Lower Schoolers Louie Mastrokostas, Kaitlyn Serpico, Derek Gordon and Madison Gerhard; Middle Schoolers Billie Haas, Soroya Dookie, Joseph Katerbo, Noah Goldstein; and Upper Schoolers Thomas Hearne, Jacqueline Korey, Melissa Kowalski, Julia Bontempo,Yasmin Meleisa and Sophia Chrysanthou were exhibited at the Middletown Arts Center after having been selected by Art Educators of New Jersey (AENJ) Youth Art Month art show. Julia Bontempo’s Self Portrait and Taylor Swanner’s Perfume Bottles work was also selected for exhibition at the Trenton State House. AENJ is the professional organization for art teachers in New Jersey and Ranney School’s participation was organized by art teachers Barbara Levine, Beverly Siranni, Ave Maria Walwark and Fine Arts chair Kate Greenberg.

The goal of the Youth Art Month Exhibition is to emphasize the value of art education for all children and to encourage support for quality school art programs. The original paintings, drawings and collages on display helped capture the spirit and imagination of New Jersey's talented students. The exhibit was open to students in grades K-12 from Monmouth County.

This year’s exhibition was open from March 12-23 and included a reception and awards ceremony for artists and their families.

• Congratulations are in order for Christa Dalmazio ’12 and Megan Sherow ’13 who will be the very first students to represent Ranney School in the New Jersey All State Chorus. The young vocalists were selected from over 1,200 students state-wide who auditioned for the elite chorus of 220. Christa and Megan will perform at NJPAC in February, 2011. All State Chorus is a program of the Music Educators’ National Conference, the music advocacy organization that sponsors the Tri-M Music Honor Society. Christa is a second-year member of Tri-M, and Megan will soon be inducted.

Athletics

• Ian Farber, 7th grade, was recently named a 2009-2010 Pop Warner All-American Scholar. Pop Warner recognizes and awards scholar athletes across the nation for their outstanding performance in the classroom. As such, Ian ranks academically in the top 2% of the approximately 400,000 children that take part in Pop Warner programs across the nation. Ian Farber joins fellow Ranney student Markar Krikorian, 5th grade, whose Pop Warner All-American Scholar recognition was announced in early April.

• John Avendano, 8th grade, competed in the Cherry Blossom Senior Open on April 18 and placed first out of 84 fencers, earning the coveted US Fencing Association "A" rating. He is one of only two Youth 14 fencers in the USA to earn an "A" rating. John also won first place in Y-Foil at the North American Cup held in Virginia Beach on April 26.

John also won a bronze medal in the Pan American Cadet Championships held in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on May 2, 2010.

 

• Ireland Clancy, 7th grade, recently competed at the Winter Equestrian Festival, a highly competitive international competition, in Wellington, Florida, placing in all her classes during the three weekends of competition. She won both her jumping classes and placed as overall champion of her division – large ponies children’s hunter division, taking home two blue ribbons, a champion ribbon, gift certificate and a cooler/blanket for her pony, Louie.

Sixth grader Ashton Clancy also competed with her pony, George, at the Winter Equestrian Festival. Ashton placed in all of her classes and won her last jumping class qualifying her for the reserved champion title. She placed 2nd overall in her division for the small/medium children’s hunter ponies.

• Craig Slater ’12 has been accepted into the Junior National Team program for crew for this summer, 2010.

Members of the USRowing National Team and Junior National Team represent the United States at the World Crew Championships every year. They are also responsible for the organization and training of teams for the Olympics.

Beginning each February, the Junior National Team coaches hold ten different Identification Camps at locations throughout the country, with selected athletes invited to join the highly competitive program. Craig attended the Identification Camp at the US Olympic training facility in Princeton in March.

The Junior National Team program is composed of High School age boys, 17-18 years old, in three divisions. Craig is among 37 athletes who have been invited to train for one of three Junior National Teams programs. The division with which Craig will train is split in two groups. One group will have the opportunity to train with highly competitive 18-year-old rowers and travel to Germany to train with and race the German National Team. This will expose athletes to World Championship-like competition and prepare them should they make the actual Junior National Team. The second group will be train together and travel to Tennessee to either represent the USA in the CanAmMex regatta or the USRowing Nationals.

Whichever group Craig ends up in he will be given the opportunity to train for six weeks with the country’s best rowers and possibly a future spot on the Junior National Team. http://www.usrowing.org/index.aspx

For additional information on all Ranney School news, please contact the Communications Department at communications@ranneyschool.org.