Nine Region 15 Middle School French Students Ranked Top 10 in State Exam

Sixty-six eighth-grade French students took part in the Level 1A National French Contest in March of 2015. The National French Contest/Le Grand Concours is an annual competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF).

Over 4,400 students of French took the written Level 1A exam, in all 50 states and abroad. Nearly 91,000 students, grades 1-12, participated in the contest.

Thirty-six eighth-graders from Rochambeau Middle School and 30 Memorial Middle School eighth-graders took part in the contest.

Rochambeau Middle School reports that had several students excelled and ranked in the top 10 in the state. Jacqueline Navas was ranked 3rd in the state, in the 95th percentile of all students in the same level. Jason Jorge ranked 8th, Kathryn Mangiameli ranked 9th, and Isabelle Brainerd, Adrian deCola and Dylan Kim all ranked 10th.

At Memorial Middle School Paul Zdankiewicz ranked 6th in the State, Andrew Byk ranked 7th in the State, both in the 90th percentile, and Victoria Williams ranked 10th in the State scoring in the 85th percentile.

Students ranked in the 95th percentile were awarded a Gold medal and those in the 85th or 90th percentiles received Silver Medals at an awards ceremony organized by the AATF on May 21.

Le Grand Concours tests students on vocabulary, listening and reading comprehension, and the use of the language in context.

This year, Le Grand Concours celebrates its 80th year of the National French Contest, first administered in 1935.