LFA News

Congratulations to several Spanish students from Lake Forest Academy who attained national recognition for excellent performance on the 2023 National Spanish Examinations.

The Caxys earned a total of 11 gold, 16 silver and 13 bronze medals along with 35 honorable mentions.  “Attaining a medal or honorable mention for any student on the National Spanish Examinations is very prestigious,” said Lisa Greenman, National Director of the Exams, “because the exams are the largest of their kind in the United States with nearly 85,000 students participating in 2023.”

The National Spanish Examination (NSE) is a motivational contest to recognize student achievement and proficiency in the study of Spanish. In addition to the contest, this exam is an online, standardized assessment tool for Grades 6-12 that measures content standards (vocabulary and grammar) and performance standards (reading and listening comprehension).

At the National level, students are able to receive medal placement (gold, silver, bronze, honorable mention) based on their scores and are eligible to apply for several types of scholarships (Global Citizen Scholarship, Junior Study Abroad Program, Senior Scholarship). The gold medal placement is the 95th percentile or higher, silver is 85th-94th percentile, bronze is 75th-84th percentile, and honorable mention is 50th-74th percentile. The categories for tests are classroom experience, outside experience and bilingual.

In order to be deemed a top 10 scorer for the Chicago area contest, the student must rank at least "bronze" nationally. Chicago area scores are determined by total score (out of 100 this year) and not a percentile score like the national level. The classroom is scored first, then outside experience must equal or be higher than classroom and bilingual must be equal or higher than outside experience. Therefore the students who are bilingual must meet the top levels of criteria.

For more information, visit www.aatsp.org.

ORO-GOLD (national)
Level 1
Charley Gopin ’26 – 3rd in state of Illinois
Lydia Freeman ’26 – 7th in state of Illinois 
Queenie Wu ’26

Level 2
Selina Ye ’26
Logan Pick ’26
Yiwen Lu ’25

Level 3
Adriana Fernandez ’25
Henry Gold ’24
Kaylie Gast ’25

Level 4 Bilingual
Christina Quiroz ’26

PLATA-SILVER
Level 1
Selina Ge ’26
Paulius Karvelis ’25
Cyrena Yang ’26
Maddie Goldman ’25
Bogi Milosevic ’26
Minha Chung ’26

Level 2
Grace Inouye ’26
Shalin Chhabria ’26
Maya Mitckess ’23
Clare Gartz ’26
Riki Accogli ’26

Level 3
Robert Ding ’25
Frank Liao ’25

Level 4
Josh Li ’23

Level 4 Bilingual
Santi Delgado ’25

Level 5
Noah Cedergren ’24

BRONCE-BRONZE
Level 1
Jake Sun ’26
Jamie Ryu ’26
Greg Parvey ’25

Level 2 
Lennon Reidy ’26
Colton Thakkar ’26
Beckett Nugent ’26
Alexandra Zhu ’26
Jackson Pick ’26

Level 3
Andrea Fernandez ’25
Gabi Stewart ’24
Sydney Rosplock ’25

Level 4 Bilingual
Genesis Abarca ’26
De’Avon Garcilazo ’26

HONORIFICA-HONORS
Level 1
Colton Dunford ’26
Thomas Quan ’26
William Xiao ’26
Hamza Jafri ’26
Carson Tucker ’26
Lily Yu ’25
Crystal Zhou ’26

Level 2
Oliver Nettesheim ’26
Scottie Watson ’26
Ginny Chang ’25
Benjamin Erulkar ’25
Matthew Jun ’26
Aadit Mantrow ’26
Peter Schanzenbach ’25
Naira Sainsi ’25
Emma Swanson ’25
Jasiek Bugaj ’26
Max Larson ’26
Terryn Wilson ’25
Gabby Wang ’26
Chloe Jhin ’25

Level 3
Alexandra Fernandez ’25
Claire Costello ’25
Conrad Drury ’25
Jeff Zavelsky ’26
Jose Onofre ’24
Marvin Ma ’24
Rose Heller ’23
Sophie Fei ’24
Teagan Hubbard ’24
Tuana Cavusoglu ’25

Level 4 Bilingual
Carlos Brito ’26

Level 4
Jason Xing ’24
Russell Stewart ’24

Level 5 Bilingual
Xitlali Ayala ’23

Top Ten Students in the Chicago Area
Level 1
Charley Gopin ’26 – 3rd
Lydia Freeman ’26 – 7th
Queenie Wu ’26 – 4th
Selina Ge ’26 – 8th
Austin Ewing ’26 – 9th
Maddie Goldman ’25 – 9th

Level 2
Yiwen Lu ’25 – 2nd
Logan Pick ’26 – 3rd
Selina Ye ’26 – 9th

Level 3
Henry Gold ’24 – 6th
Adriana Fernandez ’25 – 8th
Kaylie Gast ’25 – 8th

Level 4 Bilingual
Christina Quiroz ’26 – 1st
Santi Delgado ’25 – 4th
Genesis Abarca ’26 – 7th
De’Avon Garcilazo ’26 – 8th

Level 5
Noah Cedergren ’24 – 5th