Garden City Spanish Students Capture 13 Gold Medals

Congratulations -- or should we say, "Felicidades por tu éxito," to the Garden City High School students in Ms. Marie Nuzzi’s Spanish classes who medaled in the 2012 National Spanish Exam.

Thirteen of Nuzzi's students captured gold, 14 earned silver, six bronze and 14 honorable mentions in the contest, in which more than 143,000 students from across the country competed.

The high amount of participants made the odds of achieving a gold medal --which can only be earned by receiving a score above the 95^th percentile nationally -- much more challenging, but in spite of the competition, Garden City's students excelled at every level. 

“My students and I work very hard at achieving success within the classroom, and when that happens, there is the additional bonus of achieving it outside the classroom as well,” stated Nuzzi, “and proof of that is in all the awards they have won throughout this year in numerous competitions.”

Pictured here are the 13 gold medal winners who were honored at a ceremony at Jericho High School last month. Several of Nuzzi’s students also received additional awards at the same ceremony that evening. 

Here's a list of the winners.

GOLD MEDAL WINNERS

• Level 5: Megan Bader, Franklin Dickinson, Keith Hoge, Jennifer Jeager
• Level 4: Shannon Carman, Michael Hellman, Meredith Johnson, Tiffany Liang, Jacquelyn Seskin, Emily Spain
• Level 3: Gabrielle Fressle, Steven Menelly, Katherine McGannon                    

SILVER MEDAL WINNERS

• Level 5: Sean Bingham, Douglas Donnelly, Charles Lee, Marisa Su
• Level 4: Anne Foxen, Brooke Harrison, Jennifer Itty,  Emma Paisley       
• Level 3: Christopher Connolly, Julia Dignam,Caitlin Rieger, Kelly Tierney, Jon Toto, Michael Vinci

BRONZE MEDAL WINNERS:

• Level 4: Timothy Coogan, Daniel Finnegan, Janelle Go, Thomas Mage

• Level 3: Patrick Gerspach, Matthew Kelly

HONORABLE MENTION CERTIFICATES: 

• Level 4: Caroline Chu, Morgan Taylor, Alexandra Pappacena
• Level 3: Alonzo Africa, Michelle Gaine, Erin Hollis, Stephanie Nolan
• College Spanish: Jean Paul Albaine-Paiewonsky