Twelve HB students score in top five percent in international Avogadro chemistry exam

Nearly 5,200 students around the world took the Avogadro Exam in May, and a record-setting 12 HB students — Alison Xin '19, Michelle Yin '18, Greta Cywinska '19, Angela Zhu '19, Stephanie Zhou '18, Sophie Sacks '18, Katherine Wang '19, Tae-Hee Kim '18, Kate Aris '18, Anna Wen '18, Molly Gleydura '18, and Katie Halloran '18  — scored in the top five percent. Prior to this year's results, the greatest number of HB students to reach this milestone in a given year was seven. Only one other U.S. school had students score in the top five percent this year.

The Avogadro Exam, created and overseen by the University of Waterloo, asks students to demonstrate their knowledge of various chemistry principles and vie for prizes, which are awarded to those who score in the top five percent. The test is given to students who have completed no more than 100 hours of instruction in chemistry. 

Congratulations to Upper School Science Teacher Don Southard, and to Alison, Michelle, Greta, Angela, Stephanie, Sophie, Katherine, Tae-Hee, Kate, Anna, Molly, and Katie. These students will receive a prize and certificate for their achievements, and their names will be listed in an upcoming issue of CHEM 13 NEWS Magazine.

Congratulations to the 15 members of the Hathaway Brown Class of 2018 who  have received Letters of Commendation in recognition of their outstanding academic promise, based on their Preliminary Scholastic Achievement Test scores. More than 1.6 million juniors took the PSAT, and these students scored in the top 50,000 of those participants.

This is the largest number of Commended Students at HB in a given year. Last week, it was announced that 10 seniors were named National Merit Semifinalists, bringing the total of National Merit designations for the HB Class of 2018 to 25.

This year's HB National Merit Commended Students are:

Brice Bai, Sara Currier, Regina Egan, Molly Gleydura, Katie Halloran, Tae-Hee Kim, Julia Sofia Moreno, Amaya Razmi, Divya Sasidhar, Kate Snow, Anna Wen, Erin Xu, Ying Ying Yang, Michelle Yin, and Stephanie Zhou. 

Hathaway Brown School is excited to share that, Dani Lawson '17, has committed to play basketball for Purdue University after her senior year at HB.

At a special signing ceremony held in the Anne Cutter Coburn Reception Room, Lawson's family, friends, teammates, teachers, and school administrators joined her in celebration and wished her continued success in her academic and athletic career. 

Congratulations, Dani, and go Blazers!

Hathaway Brown’s Varsity Golf and Tennis teams will be headed to Columbus and Cincinnati this weekend for state tournament play, with Golf competing in OHSAA Division I and Tennis in Division II. This the first time in HB history that the school has had team representation in more than one athletic division in state tournament play. The Blazer Golf team is the first team in school history to be competing at the state level in Division I.

HB’s Blazer Tennis team is the two-time consecutive defending team state champion. And in addition to earning the OHSAA State Singles, Singles Runner-Up, and Doubles championships last year, former HB scholar-athletes Ariana Iranpour ’13 and Lauren Gillinov ’17 brought home the state Singles title for four years running.

Blazer Golfers qualified for the state tournament after an outstanding regular season highlighted by numerous individual and team bests, followed by an impressive first-place showing in Sectionals, then earning the berth to the state tournament with a third-place finish at Districts with a score of 333. 

The Golf state tournament will be held Friday, October 20, and Saturday, October 21, at The Ohio State University Gray Course in Columbus. State Tennis matches will be held those same days at the Lindner Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio. Be sure to follow @HBAthletics on Twitter for regular updates throughout the weekend.

Please help us congratulate our golfers and tennis players on their terrific seasons thus far and cheer them on as they represent HB in Columbus and Cincinnati. We’ll be celebrating both teams and wishing them well with gatherings on Thursday, October 19. Join us at 8 a.m. for Golf and 10:15 a.m. for Tennis in the Anne Cutter Coburn Reception Room. All families and fans are invited.

Go Blazers! 

Hathaway Brown School is proud to announce today that four of its seniors have been named semifinalists in the 2017 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology for their multiyear original research projects through the Science Research & Engineering Program (SREP).  

Congratulations to Sukhmani Kaur, Amaya Razmi, Anika Rede, and Erin Xu. 

Kaur has worked on her research in the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine with Dr. Tracey Bonfield. The work she submitted to Siemens explores the antibacterial and antimicrobial properties of umbilical cord tissue and the ability to use this currently discarded tissue as a possible treatment for pulmonary diseases. 

Razmi has been a part of the Biomedical Engineering laboratory of Dr. Anirban Sen Gupta working with Michael Sun at Case Western Reserve University on a project to create drug-containing nanoparticles that target blood clots to treat vascular disease. Specifically, she has tested two proteins that target major parts of the blood clot to determine which led to the best clot binding and retention.

Rede conducted research with Dr. Philip Feng and Hao “Justin” Jia in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at Case Western Reserve University. She has worked to develop a technique to isolate and manipulate cancer cells using resonance so that in the long term molecular differences between these cells can be used to mechanically differentiate them from non-cancerous cells.

Xu’s research takes place within the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering at Case Western Reserve University in the laboratory of Dr. Mike Hore under the mentorship of Xiaolong Lang. She synthesized different isomers of the polymer PNIPAM and analyzed each one’s properties within different solvents at a range of temperatures with the goal of identifying chemicals that can be used in thermoresponsive materials and as drug delivery vehicles. 

Launched by the Siemens Foundation in 1999, the Siemens Competition is the nation’s premier competition in math, science and technology for high school students.  Every year, students submit innovative individual and team research projects to regional and national levels of competition as they vie for college scholarships ranging from $1,000 up to $100,000. This year out of the more than 1860 projects submitted, 491 students are being recognized as semi-finalists. This select group of students and their notable projects are judged to determine who advances on to six regional competitions held in November. Individual and team winners of the regional contests earn the opportunity to compete in the National Finals held at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C. in December where $500,000 in scholarships will be awarded, including two top prizes of $100,000.

For more information on the Siemens competition, click here. 

Congratulations Sukhmani, Amaya, Anika, and Erin!

Hathaway Brown is one of only three schools in the world to advance more than one team to the Top 64 in International Public Policy Forum debate. The IPPF is a worldwide competition of written debate sponsored by the Bickel and Brewer law firm and New York University. Teams from around the globe wrote preliminary round essays on the topic  “Resolved: The obligation to provide safe haven for refugees should outweigh a government’s right to control its borders.” The Top 64 teams are vying for spots in elimination round bracket, hoping for an all-expenses paid trip to NYC to compete live at the IPPF Finals this coming spring. HB has traditionally fared well in this prestigious competition, even ranking as international runner-up in 2014. This is the first time that more than one HB team has made it this far in the contest. 

HB's Top 64 IPPF teams are:

Team 1 - Alison Xin '19, Jennifer Wang '19, Megan Qiang '19, Sukhmani Kaur '18

Team 2 - Farah Sayed '19, Kathy Wang '19, Angela Zhu '19

ABOUT IPPF
Founded in 2001 by the law firm of Brewer, Attorneys & Counselors, the International Public Policy Forum (IPPF) is the only contest that gives high school students around the globe the opportunity to engage in written and oral debates on issues of public policy. Now jointly administered by the Brewer Foundation and New York University, this program is available to all public and private high schools for free.

The competition begins in October, as each school submits a qualifying round essay on the IPPF topic. The essay should be no more than 2,800 words, either affirming or negating the topic resolution. The IPPF Essay Review Committee evaluates each essay, and the top 64 teams earn cash awards and advance into a single-elimination, written debate competition.

In the top 64 round, schools volley papers back and forth via e-mail. Judges review the essays in the order they were presented (affirmative constructive, negative constructive, affirmative rebuttal, negative rebuttal) and select the advancing teams. The process begins anew as the Top 32 teams compete for their chance to advance to the Sweet 16 round.

In March, the "Elite 8" teams are announced. These teams win all-expenses-paid trips to New York City to compete during IPPF Finals Weekend. Ultimately, the IPPF Champion wins a $10,000 grand prize and the Brewer Cup. Learn more here. 

The weekend of October 20-22, 2017 was an eventful one for Hathaway Brown's fall sports teams. Blazer Tennis collected quite a bit of hardware, coming home from the state tournament in Cincinnati with the Singles, Doubles, and Team state championships, along with the third-place title in Singles, and fourth place in Doubles. The Golf team shot a combined 679 in the OHSAA Division I state tournament on The Ohio State University Gray course to end their season ranked #9 in Ohio. And Cross Country runner Jessica Young '19 advanced to the regional meet at Boardman High School on October 28, after her seventh-place finish in the district meet with a time of 20:16.20. 

Breaking It Down: 

TENNIS

The 2017 Team state title is a three-peat for Blazer Tennis, and the Singles crown earned by Nicole Gillinov '20 is the fifth consecutive Singles championship earned by a Blazer scholar-athlete. Ariana Iranpour '14 was ranked #1 in OHSAA Division II Tennis in 2013, followed by Lauren Gillinov '17, who racked up three back-to-back titles in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Nicole Gillinov was Singles state runner-up last year. Maddie Lynch '19 earned third-place Singles honors this weekend. In Doubles action, the team of Isabella Godsick '20 and Megan Qiang '19 took the top spot this year, following Blazer graduates Ally Persky '17 and Catherine Areklett '17, who were the 2016 Doubles state champions. Also this weekend, Isabella Daverio '19 and Rebecca Wolf '19 finished the tournament ranked #4 in Doubles. Blazer Tennis is coached by Greg Aten, Craig Mueller, and Lissy Hill. 

GOLF

HB golfers were incredibly composed under pressure, playing up to the demand of the challenging Ohio State course. Individual scores for the two-day state tournament in Columbus were: Colby Cohen '18 with  83 and 78; Becca Gorman '20 with 90 and 82; Sonum Jagetia '18 with 85 and 82; Hannah Froimson '17 with 90 and 89; and Kate Hickey '20 with 95 and 90. The alternate players were Emily Jones '20 and Simr Deo '21. Blazer Golf is coached by Bill Scully and Drew Pierson.

CROSS COUNTRY

Blazer Cross Country finished the district meet ranked seventh overall, with an average time of 21:36.74, missing the regional selection of the top five teams by only a slim margin. In addition to their teammate Jessica Young, all of HB's runners had impressive showings. Times logged were: Kalie Sommerfeld '18 with 21:45.63; Emma Esteves '21 with 21:48.25; Grace McCarthy '19 with 21:59.72; Abigail Coffey '21 with 22:13.87; Sadie Hertz '20 with 22:35.72; and Lilly Rothschild '18 with 23:21.61. Please congratulate the Cross Country team for a wonderful season. The team is coached by Clark Turner and Olivia Braude.

UPCOMING POSTSEASON GAMES:

Come out and cheer on these Blazers as they continue their seasons!

Soccer: Monday, October 23, 4 p.m. at Ursuline College

Field Hockey: Tuesday, October 24, 5 p.m. at Shaker Heights High School 

In the school's ongoing efforts to seamlessly balance tradition with innovation, HB today unveiled a newly designed model classroom in the first floor west wing of the Classic Academic Center. The space—which is available for use by teachers and students in all academic disciplines and all school divisions—was designed with flexibility in mind. 

A committee of educators, school administrators, and board members spent several months researching academic environment best practices, and they looked to forward-thinking secondary schools, colleges, universities, and top business firms for inspiration for the model classroom. The design not only honors the beautiful traditional architecture of the 1927 Walker & Weeks Classic Building, but it also highlights and integrates the latest technology, giving students and teachers the tools they need to stay on the cutting-edge of educational initiatives. 

The model classroom is a bright and inviting space that encourages collaboration. All of the furnishings are easily movable, lending themselves to an endless array of configurations, vastly expanding the number and type of lessons, pedagogies, and activities that can be enacted. There is no clearly delineated front of the room, and whiteboard paint has been applied to the majority of the wall space for write-on, wipe-off capabilities. The room features several flat-screen touch monitors that connect to the internet and allow for real-time screen-sharing so that student and faculty devices may be displayed simultaneously. The space also is outfitted with energy-saving modern light fixtures and all-new flooring. 

Early reports are that the model classroom is being received as an engaging, comfortable, and inspiring update to campus. Over the course of the next several months, faculty and students have been asked to share their feedback about the space and to offer their suggestions for enhancements and improvements. This feedback will help guide ongoing renovation and remodeling efforts related to academic spaces throughout the school. 

Eight members of Hathaway Brown's debate team —Ryan Brady '20, Sejal Sangani '20, Tejal Pendekanti '20, Julia Schilz '20, Amayz Razmi '18, Farah Sayed '19, Katherine Wang '19, and Isha Lele '18— received a very prestigious honor when their International Public Policy Forum (IPPF) essays qualified as two of the “Top 64” teams internationally for the second year in a row. Hathaway Brown School is the only school in the United States with two teams in the Top 64 for two years in a row. 

The IPPF is an international competition of “written debate” in partnership with New York University. It is the only contest that gives high school students around the world the opportunity to engage in written and oral debates on issues of public policy.

The Top 64 teams will next compete in a single-elimination, written debate tournament. Teams will continue to debate the topic, “Resolved: International climate accords for greenhouse gas emissions should adopt binding enforcement mechanisms.” Essays will be volleyed back and forth via e-mail and judges will select the advancing teams. This format continues until the final eight teams emerge. Those teams earn an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City to compete in the IPPF Finals on April 21, 2018. The IPPF Champion takes home a $10,000 grand prize.

To learn more about the IPPF competition, click here. 

Congratulations to these girls on this very impressive accomplishment!  We wish them luck in their upcoming round of competition.

Four members of the Hathaway Brown School Class of 2018 signed National Letters of Intent today at a special signing ceremony held in the Anne Cutter Coburn Reception Room:

• Jackie Carman will play Basketball at Wofford College
• Annalyse Kitzberger will play Volleyball at Davidson College
• Rachel McMullen will join the Equestrian team at The University of Georgia
• Halle Wasser will join the Crew team at The University of Pennsylvania

The girls' families, teammates, coaches, teachers, and friends joined them on this important occasion. Director of Athletics, Julie Kerrigan Ettorre, spoke about each scholar-athlete to the gathered crowd, and they each thanked their loved ones for many years of support and encouragement before officially signing their letters.

Congratulations to Jackie, Annalyse, Rachel, and Halle!

Hathaway Brown Theatre Institute Winter Break Program

December 27-29, 2017 

 9:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.  

The PRIME program (grades 1-4) offers three full days of song, dance, theatre, crafts, and games. Participants can register for one, two, or all three days. Tuition is $50 per day. Visit HBTI Winter Break for information and to register.

The Performing Arts Training (Intermediate: grades 5-6, Secondary: grades 7 through college) has a wide range of specialty classes from which to choose.

Options Include: Acting for the Camera, Audition Technique for Vocals, Monologues, and Dance. 

In addition, Dan Hendrock and John Krol will teach some unique classes for Call Back Vocals, Cold Reading, “Belting” and Preparing for College Auditions. Dance with Bebe Weinberg Katz and Katie Zarecki will include Ballet, Tap, and Lyrical. Ryan Zarecki will lead three different Stage Combat classes: basics, hand-to-hand, and weapons. The Art of Storytelling will be taught by master storyteller Kyle Joza. Guest instructors include Eric van Baars (Kent State musical theatre faculty), teaching Preparation for College Audition, and Broadway producers John and Danita Thomas (Little Women and The Secret Garden) will discuss auditions and expectations for professional theatre. 

Registration for these programs is by the class.  Students can sign up for single or multiple classes. Tuition is $20 per class or $50 for a three -lass bundle. Visit HBTI Winter Break for more information and to register. 

HBTI is a co-educational arts training program sponsored by the performing arts department of Hathaway Brown School and is open to all area students. All classes are held at HB, 19600 North Park Blvd. in Shaker Heights. Questions? Email HBTI Director Bebe Weinberg Katz at bkatz@hb.edu.   

Five members of the Hathaway Brown Class of 2017 are among the candidates under consideration for the 2017 U.S. Presidential Scholars program. Regan Brady, Arielle DeVito, Lina Ghosh, Lauren Gillinov, and Rachel Wang have been selected as nominees for their outstanding academic achievement. Participation in this program is by invitation only. Students do not apply individually to the program. These HB students were identified for the program based on their high ACT and SAT scores. 

All five now have the opportunity to be among a small number of American high school seniors who are named Presidential Scholars. Of the pool of roughly 4,000 candidates, approximately 800 students will be named semifinalists, at which point the U.S. Presidential Scholars Commission will further review the students' qualifications and up to 161 will be named U.S. Presidential Scholars. All Scholars are honored for their accomplishments through the National Recognition Program, held in June in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Presidential Scholars are guests of the U.S. Department of Education, and they enjoy an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation's capital to meet with government officials and educators. To commemorate the achievement, the Scholars will be greeted by the President of the United States, and they will receive special Presidential Scholars Medallions at a ceremony sponsored by the White House. 

The United States Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964 by Executive Order of the President to recognize and honor some of our nation's most distinguished students graduating from high school. The Scholars represent "excellence in education and the promise of greatness in young people." 

Hathaway Brown is proud to be the alma mater of eight U.S. Presidential Scholars: Kavya Ravichandran '16, Isabella Nilsson '16, Alyssa Bryan '13, Laney Kuenzel '08, Amy Hollinger ’05, Edith Hines Williams '00, Caroline Campbell '98, and Genevieve Mathieson Kilmer ’96.

Hathaway Brown Upper School students fared extremely well in the 2018 Scholastic Art Awards, earning multiple regional commendations in this longstanding, highly competitive local and national visual arts program. For 2018, 43 awards were earned by 24 HB girls in grades 9-12 in eight different arts categories. The faculty advisors for these award-winning students are members of the HB Upper School Visual Arts Department: Jamie Morse, Shelly Ahern, and Tyler Zeleny. 

HB students earned seven Gold Keys, 14 Silver Keys, and 22 Honorable Mention designations in Ceramics & Glass, Comic Art, Digital Art, Drawing & Illustration, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, and Mixed Media. 

All of the HB students' Gold Key and Silver Key award-winning work, as well as digital representations of the Honorable Mention work, will be on display at the Cleveland Institute of Art. An Award Ceremony for Gold Key recipients will take place in the Peter B. Lewis Auditorium at CIA on Saturday, January 13, and all of the winning work will be on view in CIA's Reinberger Gallery January 16 through February 2. Learn more here. 

Each Gold Key-designated piece is eligible for the Scholastic national competition and will be sent to New York City for judging at the close of the exhibition. Click here to view a complete listing of HB's 2018 winners, including award level, category, title of work, and faculty advisor. 

Congratulations to the following students:

Hathaway Brown Upper School students had another remarkable showing in the Scholastic Writing Awards, a longstanding, highly competitive local and national program. For 2018, 93 awards were earned by 49 HB girls in grades 9-12 in seven different writing categories. This includes 21 Gold Keys, the highest number ever to be awarded to HB students in a given year. Students credit Director of the Osborne Writing Center Scott Parsons and Upper School English teachers Beth Armstrong, Marty Frazier, and Toni Thayer for their assistance in advising them on their work. 

In addition to the 21 Gold Keys, HB students earned 20 Silver Keys and 52 Honorable Mentions in Critical Essay, Flash Fiction, Journalism, Personal Essay/Memoir, Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy, and Short Story for 2018.

Each Gold Key work is now eligible for the Scholastic national competition and will be sent to New York City for additional award consideration. Click here to view a complete listing of HB winners, including award level, category, and title of work.

Congratulations to the following students:

Alise Adornato '19, Honorable Mention, Poetry (2); Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Grace Amjad '19, Honorable Mention, Poetry (2); Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir 

Margaret Amjad '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir (2)

Kate Aris '18, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Grace Beedles '19, Honorable Mention, Poetry

Casey Beiswenger '19, Silver Key, Critical Essay; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Jane Berick '19, Gold Key, Poetry (3); Silver Key, Poetry (2); Honorable Mention, Poetry 

Ainsley Bradbury '19, Silver Key, Short Story

Yardena Carmi '19, Gold Key, Science Fiction/Fantasy; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Maya Daoud '19, Silver Key, Pesonal Essay/Memoir

Kathryn Doherty '19, Honorable Mention, Poetry

Michelle Dong '20, Honorable Mention, Poetry

Regina Egan '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Short Story

Caitlin Esteves '19, Honorable Mention, Critical Essay

Ellie Felderman '18, Honorable Mention, Poetry 

Katrina Frei-Herrmann '18, Gold Key, Poetry; Silver Key, Critical Essay

Elise Fuente '18, Silver Key, Critical Essay

Julia Garson '18, Honorable Mention, Poetry

Daria Gitiforooz '19, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir 

Molly Gleydura '18, Silver Key, Short Story; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir 

Zuha Jaffar '21, Gold Key, Flash Fiction

Erica Kahn '18, Honorable Mention, Poetry

Stephanie Kaiser '19, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir (2); Silver Key, Poetry (2); Honorable Mention, Poetry

Isha Lele '18, Silver Key, Critical Essay

Coco Liu '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir 

Nadia Malik '19, Gold Key, Poetry

Layla Najeeullah '20, Gold Key, Poetry

Rebecca Oet '20, Gold Key, Poetry; Honorable Mention, Poetry

Camryn Parsons '19, Gold Key, Poetry; Silver Key, Personal Essay/Memoir

Ela Passarelli '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Simran Patwa '19, Honorable Mention, Journalism

Tejal Pendekanti '20, Silver Key, Short Story; Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Poetry

Shruthi Ravichandran '21, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Anya Razmi '20, Silver Key, Poetry

Amaya Razmi '18, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Short Story

Sophie Sacks '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Honorable Mention, Poetry

Sejal Sangani '20, Silver Key, Poetry

Farah Sayed '19, Silver Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Silver Key, Poetry

Leonela Serrano '18, Honorable Mention, Short Story

Lexie von Zedlitz '18, Honorable Mention, Critical Essay; Honorable Mention, Short Story

Jennifer Wang '19, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Sophie Weyn '19, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

Alison Xin '19, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir (2)

Claire Yohann '18, Honorable Mention, Critical Essay

Lina Zein '20, Silver Key, Critical Essay; Honorable Mention, Critical Essay (2)

Yasmine Zein '19, Silver Key, Critical Essay; Honorable Mention, Critical Essay 

Crystal Zhao '18, Gold Key, Personal Essay/Memoir; Silver Key, Science Fiction/Fantasy

Stephanie Zhou '18, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir 

Angela Zhu '19, Honorable Mention, Personal Essay/Memoir

The National Council of Teachers of English has recommended HB's Retrospect for its top honor in the 2017 NCTE Program to Recognize Excellence in Student Literary Magazines. Only two Ohio schools were recommended to receive the Highest Award, which Retrospect also earned in 2015. In the 2017 award notification letter, the NCTE congratulated faculty advisor Scott Parsons, director of the Osborne Writing Center, saying, "You have inspired a love of writing and built a community around the written word that your students will remember for the rest of their lives."

Retrospect is produced each year by a team of 12th grade editors, and the book includes the work of Upper School students from all grade levels. Girls submit visual art, poetry, prose, essays, and short stories for consideration. The resulting publication is a beautiful compilation of many voices and perspectives. You can read the 2017 issue of HB's student literary journal here: http://bit.ly/2rpWpSI. 

Congratulations to the members of the class of 2017 who served as editors for this award-winning book: Sam Scott, Ellie Cascio, Rosalie Phillips, Taylor Herrick, Regan Brady, Carly Wellener, Lina Ghosh, Kristina Mullen, Arielle DeVito, Gigi Protasiewicz, Marisa Lancaster, Maria Perilla, Hanna Keyerleber, Chloe Schwartz, and Lane Chesler. 

Two members of the Hathaway Brown Class of 2018 are among the candidates under consideration for the 2018 U.S. Presidential Scholars program. Adelyn Klimek and Lekha Medarametla have been selected as nominees for their outstanding academic achievement. Participation in this program is by invitation only. Students do not apply individually to the program. These HB students were identified for the program based on their high ACT and SAT scores. 

Both students now have the opportunity to be among a small number of American high school seniors who are named Presidential Scholars. Of the pool of roughly 4,500 candidates, approximately 600 students will be named semifinalists, at which point the U.S. Presidential Scholars Commission will further review the students' qualifications and up to 161 will be named U.S. Presidential Scholars. All Scholars are honored for their accomplishments through the National Recognition Program, held in June in Washington, D.C. The U.S. Presidential Scholars are guests of the U.S. Department of Education, and they enjoy an all-expenses-paid trip to the nation's capital to meet with government officials and educators. To commemorate the achievement, the Scholars will be greeted by the President of the United States, and they will receive special Presidential Scholars Medallions at a ceremony sponsored by the White House. 

The United States Presidential Scholars Program was established in 1964 by Executive Order of the President to recognize and honor some of our nation's most distinguished students graduating from high school. The Scholars represent "excellence in education and the promise of greatness in young people." 

Hathaway Brown is proud to be the alma mater of ten U.S. Presidential Scholars: Regan Brady '17, Lina Ghosh '17, Kavya Ravichandran '16, Isabella Nilsson '16, Alyssa Bryan '13, Laney Kuenzel '08, Amy Hollinger ’05, Edith Hines Williams '00, Caroline Campbell '98, and Genevieve Mathieson Kilmer ’96.

Ten Hathaway Brown seniors have been chosen as National Merit Finalists for 2018. All of the HB students who were named Semifinalists in the program in the fall went on to achieve Finalist status.

Students who take the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test are eligible to become National Merit Scholarship Finalists. More than 1.5 million students enter each year. The National Merit Scholarship Corporation will consider all Finalists when the agency awards an array monetary prizes this year. To learn more about the program, click here.

HB's National Merit Finalists for 2018 are: Archer Frodyma, Addie Klimek, Anne Lewandowski, Coralin Li, Lekha Medarametla, Danica Murthy, Ela Passarelli, Anika Rede, Sophie Sacks, and Crystal Zhao.

Join us for the 17th Annual Student Playwriting Festival!

Friday, February 23 & Saturday, February 24, 2018

7:30 p.m.

Black Box Theatre

This event features six original plays written by HB students and directed by six HB Black Box Ensemble students. A variety of comedy, drama, horror, and even a musical! Free Admission. Limited Seating. 

HAUNTED HOUSE by Grace Beedles '19, directed by Camryn Parsons '19

WIN OR LOSS by Sarah Goraya '21, directed by Anne Lewandowski '18

TRUTH OR DARE by Violet Webster '21, directed by Frances Murray '18

COUNTING BOXES by Emma Gerber '21, directed by Val Mischka '18

LICENSE TO LOVE by  Anna Keresztesy '20, directed by Anna Kalra '19

PELICAN GIRLS by Hannah Schmidt '19, directed by Kathryn Doherty '19

For more information, contact Molly Cornwell