Athens Academy Press Releases

Nine members of Athens Academy’s Class of 2009 have been recognized by the National Merit® Scholarship Program for their performance on last October’s PSAT/NMSQT. Della Cummings, Alec Greer, Margaret Heald, Anna Kochut, Malik Obeidin, Eric Perkerson, Abbi Ross, Blake Sinyard, and Everett Young have been recognized by National Merit as Commended Students.

Over the past five years, an average of 20% of Athens Academy’s seniors have been recognized by the National Merit® Scholarship Program each year. “We’re thrilled for these seniors,” says Associate Headmaster JP Watson. “This recognition is testament to the hard work they have engaged in through their interaction with teachers and advisors. Their preparation will serve them well as they plan for college matriculation.”

The National Merit® Scholarship Program is an academic competition for recognition and scholarships that began in 1955. High school students enter the National Merit Program by taking the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®). Of the 1.4 million entrants, some 50,000 with the highest PSAT/NMSQT® Selection Index scores (critical reading + mathematics + writing skills scores) qualify for recognition in the National Merit® Scholarship Program.

Posted by Kelley Cuneo at 9:59 AM | Permalink

For a number of years, Athens Academy’s Middle School has participated in Duke University’s Talent Identification Program, established in 1980 to identify bright students and to enable gifted and talented programs to help these students develop their abilities. This year Athens Academy is delighted to announce that 85% of the seventh grade class has qualified for the program. These 50 students achieved scores at or above the 95th percentile on verbal or mathematical sections of nationally-normed tests approved by Duke’s program for the academically gifted.

“I am excited that the hard work of our students has resulted in this recognition for many of them,” commented Brenda Klein, Middle School Director. “Our school environment encourages independent thinking and creativity through academics, fine arts, athletics, and service. In our college preparatory program children are developing habits and attitudes that enhance their learning experiences for the present and the future.”

The Duke TIP talent search involves students from 16 southern, southwestern, and mid-western states. It is one of four university-based talent searches that combine to cover the United States. Students who qualified may take the SAT or ACT college admissions tests. The seventh graders who perform exceptionally well on one of these tests are invited to attend summer programs for the gifted at Duke University. In addition, the higher scoring students are invited to a state recognition ceremony.

Congratulations to the Athens Academy students who have qualified for the Duke Talent Search this year: Kyle Adams, Prakash Agrawal, Davis Bell, Alex Bernhardt, Caroline Block, Zoe Brewster, Walker Buchner, Natalie Busener, Alois Cerbu, Moiranyah Daniels-Melear, Katie Marie Davis, Ian Dawkins, Claudia Evaristo, Drew Finney, Ava Gibson, Grace Griffith, Claire Grubb, Connor Guess, Lauren Hawkins, Shannon Hodgson, James Hylton, Joy Kim, Anna Kimsey, Zachary Kittrell, Charles Lankau, Myles LoParco, Hannah Lupton, Christopher Marbut, Annabelle Martin, Zander Mason, Patrick McArdle, Bobby McPhillips, Conley Messer, Celeste Minor, Madeleine Mullen, Anamaria Otalora-Garcia, Darshan Parikh, Rooshi Patel, Abbey Pylant, Nick Rorabaugh, Max Ruston, Rebecca Schofield, Matilda Segal, Whitney Stewart, Matt Swan, Nilu Vyas, Grayson Williams, Holly Williams, Oliver Woodruff, and Alex Young.

Posted by Kelley Cuneo at 10:10 AM | Permalink

The National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) recently recognized Athens Academy senior Maddie Dahl as an outstanding writer as part of the 2008 NCTE Achievement Awards in Writing. Maddie was nominated in her junior year and was one of only seven selected from the state of Georgia.

At Athens Academy, writing is a fundamental skill which permeates all disciplines at each grade level. “The key point is that teachers and students approach writing as a process,” according to Dean of Academics Caroline Ridlehuber. “They follow a series of steps including pre-writing and drafting, individual conferencing, revising, and publishing a final product.” Carefully designed rubrics assist students and teachers in evaluating each genre used. Each year, students contribute selected pieces to a cumulative writing portfolio which enables them and their teachers to monitor and evaluate the development of their writing skills from year to year.

The Achievement Awards in Writing program was established in 1957 to encourage high school students in their writing and to publicly recognize some of the best student writers in the nation. The writing excellence is based on students’ examples of their own best prose or verse and on impromptu themes that are written under supervision. A team of English teachers chosen from throughout the students’ home state judges the writing, looking especially for writing that demonstrates effective and imaginative use of language to inform and move an audience.

Posted by Kelley Cuneo at 9:39 AM | Permalink