MMI Preparatory School recently held its annual upper school Awards Convocation for students in ninth through 12th grades.
MMI Head of School D. Scott Wiggins welcomed those in attendance and MMI College Admissions Counselor Stephanie Shandra served as emcee.
Senior Allison McGeehan received a special award honoring her service as Pennsylvania Future Business Leaders of America (FBLA) State Reporter for the 2016-2017 school year. In addition to assisting MMI FBLA adviser Katherine Zucco, McGeehan spent a significant amount of time over the past year serving more than 500 students across the state in her capacity as State Reporter. Allison was also presented the 2017 Jake Kislan ’56 Polonaise Society Award, which honors the highest achieving Polish American graduate of MMI and is sponsored by Mrs. Michelle Kislan in conjunction with the Greater Hazleton Polonaise Society
Sophomore Andrew Decker was recognized for his performance in the Poetry Out Loud competition. Decker was MMI’s school winner for the second consecutive year and went on to place in the top five in the state out of more than 7,000 entrants.
The Eckley B. Coxe Jr. Memorial Subject Awards were presented to senior students who have excelled in their fields of study as follows: Visual and Performing Arts – Garrett Kost; History and Mathematics – Ali Aijaz; Spanish – Allison McGeehan; Science – Nicholas Young; Chinese – Keenan Overa; German – Megan Marchetti; and English – Joshua Narrow. Narrow was also recognized for his recent appointment as the Hazleton City Poet Laureate, a role that was recreated to help foster an appreciation for the humanities in the Hazleton area with the hope that students can get involved with various art-based organizations to exhibit their work.
MMI subject awards were presented to students in the following categories:
Ninth grade: Science and Spanish – Grant Warren; Chinese, Music Performance, and Math – Benjamin Putnam; English and History – Paige Machulsky; Art – Macy Zenier; Music History – Lance Book; and German – Ryan Halterman.
10th grade: English and Music Performance – Alexander Kline; Art and Spanish – Alexander Sessock; Math – Frederick Mejia; Science – Nicholas Carrato; History and Chinese – Wesley Guarneri; and German – Jessica McClellan.
11th grade: Art – Stephanie Zellner; Math, Spanish, and History – Gabriella Kupsho; Science – Lauren Freeman; English – Lauren Babinetz; German – David Caldwell; and Chinese – Sydney Karpowich.
Awards for the National German Exam were presented as follows: German I Bronze Awards – Elias Bachman and Paige Machulsky; German I Achievement Awards – Elizabeth Eckert, Alexander Jordan, Ryan Halterman and Kai Mele; German II Gold Award – Coleman Smith; German II Silver Award – Jessica McClellan; German II Bronze Award – Daniel DeMelfi; German II Achievement Awards –Emmanuel Bisono and Reiley DeStefano; German III Achievement Awards – Nicolo Cottone and Benjamin Lloyd; and German IV Achievement Awards – Garrett Kost and Anna Olivieri.
Awards for the National Spanish Examinations were presented as follows: Spanish Level I Honorable Mention Awards – Adam Tron and Andrellie Puntiel; Spanish Level II Gold Awards – Frederick Mejia; Spanish Level II Bronze Awards – Ian Dewar, Alexander Kline and Alexander Sessock; Spanish Level II Honorable Mention Scholar Awards – Kelisa Hysenbegasi, Kaitlyn McGeehan, Maxwell Santana and Zachary Young; Spanish Level III Honorable Mention Scholar Awards – Angelica Alday and Gabriella Kupsho; Spanish Level IV Silver Award – Ali Aijaz; Spanish Level IV Bronze Award – Allison McGeehan; and Spanish Level IV Honorable Mention Scholar Awards – Anirban Chowdhury and Daniel Tron.
MMI honored visual artist Danielle Pileggi and performing artist Garrett Kost as the school representatives for the WVIA Artist of the Week program. Several MMI students were also recognized for being chosen to perform at the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association District 9 Orchestra, Regional Orchestra, District Band, Regional Band and District Jazz Fest competitions. Students are: Angelica Alday (District and Regional Orchestra), Aaron Harman (District and Regional Band and District Orchestra), Molly O’Connell (District Orchestra) and Benjamin Putnam (District Jazz Fest).
Four MMI students were honored for placing in the top four at the Pennsylvania School Press Association Student Journalism competition. They are: Julia Snyder (first in the Literary Magazine Artwork category), Joshua Narrow (first in the Literary Magazine Poetry category), Danielle Pileggi (second in the Literary Magazine Artwork category), and Chava Kornblatt (fourth in the Yearbook Photo Caption Writing category).
In the sciences, Frederick Mejia was recognized for placing second on the American Chemical Society High School Chemistry Competition examination, Abigail Paul was honored as a 2017 National Finalist for the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad competition, and Lauren Babinetz was recognized for placing second in Penn State Hazleton’s third annual STEM Research fair for regional high school students.
The team of Lois Polashenski, Joshua Kalada-Kania, Samuel Sessock, Alexander Sessock and Lauren Babinetz were recognized for placing first in the 38th annual Luzerne County Envirothon and advancing to the state competition.
Sixteen MMI students were honored for their high levels of achievement at the Pennsylvania State FBLA Leadership Conference in Hershey. They are: Julia Snyder (first place for Client Service); Allison McGeehan (second place for Insurance Risk Management); Jonathan Smith and Jessica Smith (second place for Public Service Announcement); Morgan Long (fourth place for Intro to Business Procedures); Joey Kress (fifth place for Organizational Leadership); Chava Kornblatt and Stephanie Zellner (sixth place for Marketing); Nicholas Young (seventh place for Health Care Administration); Talia Logerfo and Abigail Paul (seventh place for Management Informational Systems); Sydney Karpowich and Anna Haber (eighth place for Business Plan); and Dillon Merenich, Lucas Smith and Eric Degenhart (ninth place for Public Service Announcement). Stephanie Zellner, Chava Kornblatt, Morgan Long, Jessica Smith, Jonathan Smith, Allison McGeehan and Julia Snyder all advanced to the FBLA National Leadership Conference in California.
Open House winners were also honored with Level 2 awards being given to ninth- and 10th-grade students and Level 3 awards to 11th- and 12th-grade students. Winners were:
Cooking: first place – Garrett Kost, Anirban Chowdhury, Keenan Overa and Niklas Byriel for “Chinese Small Eats;” second place – Elizabeth Pinto, Kisan Patel and Ali Aijaz for “The Three Broomsticks: Harry Potter Foods.” Humanities: Level II first place (tie) – Mahum Ahmed for “Pride and Prejudice” and Kaitlyn McGeehan for “How Literature Affects Our Emotions;” Level II second place – Morgan Long for “Literary Device Generator.” Level III first place – Angelica Alday for “The Visual Rhetoric of Murals;” Level III second place – Aaron Harman for “Resistance Against Imperialism.” Science: Level II first place – Kai Mele for “Medieval Siege Machines;” Level II second place – Phillip Byriel for “Voice Pitch in Male/Female Memory;” Level II Honorable Mention (tie) – Katharine Pinto for “Series and Sequences” and Justin Weiksner for “Line-Following Robot: An Introduction to Robotics and Programming.” Level III first place – Dillon Merenich for “1953 Customline Rebuild;” Level III second place – David Caldwell for “The Effects of Natural Antibiotics.”
Other award presentations included: 2017 Woodmen Award of the World American History Award – Ali Aijaz; American Mathematics Competition Exam 10A School Winner – Daniel DeMelfi; American Mathematics Competition Exam 12A School Winner – Anirban Chowdhury; American Mathematics Competition Exam 12B School Winner – Nicholas Young; Certificate of Nomination in the National Council of Teachers of English Achievement Awards – Sydney Karpowich; and American Red Cross High School Leadership Scholarship – Megan Marchetti.
Additional award winners were: Freeland American Legion Good Citizenship Award – Garrett Kost; National Merit Finalists – Ali Aijaz, Anirban Chowdhury, Allison McGeehan (also the winner of a $2,500 National Merit Scholarship) and Nicholas Young (also the winner of the National Merit Computer Aid Scholarship); George Eastman Kodak Young Leaders Award and Scholarship – Gabriella Kupsho; Bausch & Lomb Honorary Science Award – David Caldwell; Frederick Douglass and Susan B. Anthony Award in Humanities and Social Sciences – Chava Kornblatt; Xerox Award for Innovation and Information Technology – Aaron Harman; The Rensselaer Medal Award – Abigail Paul; The Bryn Mawr Book Award – Caitlyn Kline; The Sage Colleges Student Sage Awards – George Palermo and Caelyn McGran; The University of Pennsylvania Book Award – Julia Snyder; The Wells College 21st Century Leadership Award – Lauren Freeman and Jakob Schwabe; The Wellesley College Club Book Award – Angelica Alday; Elmira College Key Awards – Stephanie Zellner and John Malay; Rochester Institute of Technology Computing Medals – Lauren Babinetz and Kyle Falatko; and Rochester Institute of Technology Innovation and Creativity Awards – Sydney Karpowich and Joshua Kalada-Kania.
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