Upper
May 19, 2022
Seven Hills has Four National Merit Scholars
Congratulations to seniors Jenny Hu, Kathryn Guo, Naina Purushothaman, and Manan Vij for being named National Merit Scholars and receiving the highest recognition the organization provides. They and seniors Kevin Chen, Sarah Croog, Robby Ligeralde, and Sebastian Rodriguez were named National Merit Finalists. The National Merit Scholarship Program is an annual academic competition that honors academically talented U.S. high school students. Students qualify for recognition in the National Merit program with their scores on the PSAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test.
History students debate great leaders
In the Commons on May 11, founder of the Mali Empire Sundiata Keita, portrayed by freshman Katie Stevens, debated with scientist Sir Isaac Newton, portrayed by sophomore Rithvik Allamaneni, and was honored as the greatest leader of all time in the history department’s annual Tournament of Greatness. All freshmen and sophomores researched a great leader in history for the tournament. They then debated in character with their classmates and answered questions, showing their knowledge of their leader and the ones portrayed by their classmates. In the freshmen final, Sundiata Keita, or Stevens, defeated Ivan the Terrible, portrayed by Lauren VordemEsche, and Cleopatra, portrayed by Ahalya Nambiar, to be crowned the freshman winner. In the sophomore final, Isaac Newton, or Allamaneni, defeated German Chancellor Otto von Bismark, portrayed by Shravan Sekhar, to become the sophomore winner.
Students inducted into World Languages Honor Societies
Forty-five Upper School students were inducted into the Chinese, French, Latin, and Spanish national honor societies in a series of ceremonies in April. “Learning a language and traveling is about changing our perspective and changing how we see the world. Traveling is transformative and it allows us to see the world through the eyes of other people and other cultures. It makes us more tolerant and more compassionate to people who are different,” said Chair of the Upper School World Languages Department Teresa Bardon. Congrats to sophomores Celine Tan and Mikul Wyer; juniors Logan Bien, Olivia Pohl, Kathryn Shao, andShanaya Bharucha; and senior Collin Chen for their induction into the Chinese National Honor Society. Congrats to sophomore Lelia Backshaw-Brown; juniors Ariane Briguet, Mallory Dorsch, Mia Mason, Catherine McAndrew, Saloni Sachdeva, Evan VordemEsche, and Annalise Wabler; and seniors Cece Hood, Aanya Anand, Rosalie Hoar, Julia Moser, Allie Nathan, Meg Seshiah, Daniela Amadeo-Muniz, Jacky Hou, Jenny Hu, Miranda Kerr, Elsa Lick, Loura Ma, and Martina Miquelarena for their induction into the French National Honor Society. Congrats to juniors Anna Papakirk and Aana Shenai; and seniors Rama Alshami, Kevin Chen, Eliza Kite, Angel Liang, Joshua Porter, and Alexis Veldhuis for their induction into the Spanish Honor Society. Congrats to juniors Elias Butress, Erin Finn, Beau Goldstein, Biz Kohnen, Jared Kraus, Zach Mason, George Mentrup, Julia Tamai, and Edie Tesfaye for their induction in the National Junior Classical League Latin Honor Society.
Entrepreneurship Class pitches business ideas
Three teams of seniors in Nick Francis’s entrepreneurship class pitched their business ideas to a group of local business leaders during the Seven Hills “Shark Tank” event. The students had only six weeks to come up with ideas for a business, conduct research, and develop plans for financing, marketing, and development. “This course is much more hands on in terms of student involvement and students taking responsibility for what happens. We try to make it as real world as possible,” Francis said, adding each team worked with local businesses to develop their ideas. Eli Joffe and Amaiya Sims created Evolution, which would connect student athletes to trainers and give the athletes a platform to grow their player profile. Daniela Amadeo-Muniz, Jenna Villar, and Emma Schlueter created Gift-It, an app to keep track of and send gift cards. Santiago Rodriguez, Kevin Chen, and Jonathan Lee created Autoponic, an automated, indoor gardening device. The sharks picked Gift-It as the winner because of its scalability.
Parent Panel on Immigration
As part of the sophomore class’ reading of “The Namesake” by Jhumpa Lahiri, the English departmentwelcomed a panel of parents to talk about cultural identity and their experience with immigration. Sarah Corathers, Reena Patil, Nupur Anand, Paula Dunson, and Rica Ligeralde took part in the panel that was moderated by sophomores Noah Clark and Ria Mittal. Touching on themes from the book, they talked about the importance of finding a community of others like them and the struggles of sharing their culture with their children as second generation immigrants.
Three receive American Chemical Society honors
Juniors Shanaya Bharucha and Jack Ringel were honored by the Cincinnati Section of the American Chemical Society for competing in the U.S. National Chemistry Olympiad exam. Out of the 116 students in the Cincinnati region who took the qualifying exam, only 11 were chosen to represent Cincinnati in the national competition. A maximum of two students per school were allowed to proceed to the national level. The five-hour exam contains three parts: multiple choice, problem solving, and a lab practical. Sophomore Leon Li was named a top 10 scorer for placing second on the local first year chemistry exam out of more than 100 participants. He was awarded one of three Ralph E. Oesper Awards, which are given to outstanding high school chemistry students.
Seven students honored in Chinese Writing Contest
Five Upper School students received medals in the Ohio K-12 Chinese Essay Contest. Senior Collin Chen and sophomore Celine Tan won gold medals. Juniors Logan Bien and Olivia Pohl and sophomore Mikul Wyer won silver medals. Juniors Shanaya Bharucha and Kathryn Shao both received honorable mentions. All students are in Nanyue Zhu’s AP Chinese class.
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Five Stingers Sign to Play in College
Five Stingers from the Class of 2024 signed their letters of intent to continue their athletic careers in college.
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