Seniors Julia Arnaut, Jack Beclay, Dominic Fontana, Sophie Voudris and Gavin Watson have been named finalists in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation...
National Merit Finalists
Seniors Julia Arnaut, Jack Beclay, Dominic Fontana, Sophie Voudris and Gavin Watson have been named finalists in the 69th annual National Merit Scholarship Program by the National Merit Scholarship Corporation. They will compete for over 7,140 National Merit Scholarships worth more than $28 million, which will be offered in the spring.
The five students are among approximately 15,000 finalists who advanced out of a nationwide pool of 16,000 semifinalists chosen in September and represented the highest-scoring entrants in each state on the 2022 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. To become a finalist, semifinalists had to submit a scholarship application, have an outstanding academic record, be recommended by a school official, write an essay and earn SAT or ACT scores confirming their qualifying test performance.
Mock Trial Team Headed to States
On Feb. 16, eight teams from seven different schools competed at the Lake
County Courthouse in the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education’s annual Regional
Mock Trial Competition. Teams argued before panels of three judges regarding a case this year that dealt with obtaining restitution from a co-conspirator in an embezzlement case and whether forfeiting a classic Chevy Camaro was proportionate to the amount of loss.
The Kenston High School mock trial team has qualified for states for the second time since 2019. It is an incredible accomplishment to achieve, as the team needs to win four trials in a row – two at districts and two at regionals. Making it even more impressive is that six of the 10 members of the team are freshmen. Team members are Sophia Alandt, Brooklyn Alexander, William Eisner, Alexa Hebert, Maddy Jaroch, Rhys Serquina, Joseph Triscaro, Will Turner, Grace Voudris and Brian Worsdall. The state tournament is March 7 and 8.
Speech and Debate
The Kenston speech and debate teams continue on the path to success with many achievements. On March 1, 12 members of the high school team will be heading to Wooster for states. Congratulations to Kenston’s newest state qualifiers: Emily Hunt in Original Oratory and Jacob Gertsburg in Humorous Interpretation; and also to Zoe LeFeber and William Eisner, who will be competing in the Senate in Congressional Debate.
For the eighth year in a row, Kenston’s speech and debate team is heading to nationals, which will be held in Des Moines, Iowa, in June. Congratulations to Jacob Spencer, who qualified in Humorous Interpretation; Grace Voudris, who was selected to the district’s World Schools Debate Team; and Olivia White, who is the first alternate in Dramatic Interpretation. Good luck to the KHS speech and debate team at the state and national competitions.
The middle school’s speech and debate team competed and placed second out of 14 teams on Feb. 24 at their home tournament. Maria Shindika was the tournament champion in Extemporaneous Debate, while Pearl Johnson was the tournament champion in Declamation. Placing second were Addison Weber in Extemporaneous Debate and Zoey Murtha in Congressional Debate. Reagan Carnes and William Thompson placed fourth in Public Forum Debate, while Lyla Bienias placed seventh in Oratory.
KHS Science Olympiad
Kenston High School Science Olympiad team placed seventh out of 35 teams at the Case Western Reserve University Invitational on Feb. 24. Students placing in individual events include: Sophie Voudris and Thomas Wilson – third place, Geologic Mapping; Ava Intelisano and Sam Worsdall – fifth place, Forestry; Sophie Voudris and Lisa Markoff – fourth place, Dynamic Planet; Ben Fink and Michael Thompson – third place, Flight; Lindsey Myshrall, Jay Syslo and Sophie Voudris – third place, Codebusters; Thomas Wilson and Ava Intelisano – third place, Fossils; Michael Thompson and Jay Syslo – fourth place, Write It, Do It; Mason Miller and Matt Nidy – second place, Scrambler; and Ben Fink and Jack Beclay – sixth place, Scrambler.
The team continues on to regionals this weekend at Baldwin Wallace.
