On February 27, Latin students at the Middle School took the National Latin Exam. They were joined by and competed with over 154,000 students from all 50 states and 15 foreign countries including Australia, Canada, China, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, New Zealand, the Philippines, Poland, Taiwan, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe. There are separate exams for different levels of Latin, and students in each level are awarded medals (gold and silver) for high achievement. Twenty-eight Middle School students were recognized with some kind of award (82% of the 8th grade and 59% of the 7th grade). In the 8th grade, five students received Gold Medals and five received Silver Medals, the two highest awards on the exam. In the 7th grade, two students received the highest recognition and an additional eight students received awards.

8th Latin

Perfect Score

Katherine Salinas

Will Josowitz

Gold Medals

Katherine Salinas

Will Josowitz

Walton Schmidt

Isabel Laubach

Rachel Nezzer

Silver Medals

Janson Shrock

Bethany Dollar

Hana Arriaga

Alexandra Ameel

Madison Bingham

Magna Cum Laude

Elizabeth Leighty

Olivia Smith

Christian Erben

Cameron Scott

William McKinnerney

Puoya Mohammadi

Grace Jensen

Cum Laude

Taylor Thompson

7th Latin

Ribbon & Certificate Winners

Lex Searcy

Matthew Tobias

Certificate Winners

Pace Renner

Layne Alam

Molly Fox

Jack Guttell

Mallory Barndollar

Grace Gilmour

John Schneider

Chandon Chhikara

St. Andrew’s Middle School took an interactive and comprehensive approach to Election Day this year. Faculty members across all subjects incorporated the dynamics of the election in all aspects of the curriculum for this special topics day through a variety of creative techniques. From writing stump speeches to analyzing exit polls to developing propaganda posters in Spanish, students were exposed to an in-depth perspective on American elections. For example:

Travis County Judge Lora Livingston engaged Middle School students this week in an exploration of courtroom reality and racism in the 1930s and improvement in today’s more equitable jury selection process. Her visit coincided with the eighth grade English study of Harper Lee’s classic novel To Kill a Mockingbird

Before probing the prejudices depicted in the novel’s Southern “Jim Crow” era setting, Judge Livingston introduced students to terminology and procedures of both civil and criminal trials. She led them through various scenarios involving crimes ranging from misdemeanors to felonies. The judge then asked... more