Huntington’s Italian Language Students Capture Awards

Italian language students at Huntington High School and J. Taylor Finley Middle School enjoyed success in this year’s National Italian Exam. The students a top achievement monetary award, two medals and two merit awards.

According to the National Italian Exam website, “[the] NIE is the official national language contest for middle and high school students … It is a web-based proficiency and performance assessment that measures written and aural interpretation skills.”

The National Italian Exam has three categories for each level: A (students who have only studied Italian in school); B (students whose native language is a Romance language); and C (students who were raised in a household where Italian is spoken regularly and actively used by its members).

The Huntington Italian students that volunteered to take this exam ranged in level from Novice to Level IV in categories A and B.

Italian teachers, Natalia Kopshti and Michelle Viani said they are “very proud of and pleased with the enthusiasm and determination of our Italian students to challenge and improve their Italian language skills outside the classroom.”

This year, seventh grader Delaney Madden earned a Top Achievement Award and won $75 for scoring in the 99th percentile in Level Novice A.

Signora Viani, Finley’s Italian teacher, held an award ceremony and pizza party to celebrate her students’ achievements.

Huntington’s honorees include:

Top Achievement Award ($75 Prize) + Gold Medal Winner:

● Delaney Madden (Level Novice A, 7th grade)

Silver Medal Winner:

● Ava Tortora (Level Novice A, 7th grade)

Merit Award Winners:

● Andy Gudiel Ramirez (Level 1 B, 7th grade)

● Bryanna Chavez (Level 2 B, 9th grade)

Participatory Awards:

● Kellen Anderson (Level 2 A, 8th grade)

● Khloe Bedell (Level 1 A, 7th grade)

● Grace Gonzalez (Level 1 A, 7th grade)

● Harry Gross (Level Novice A, 7th grade)

● Charlotte Kindelmann (Level 1 A, 7th grade)

● Jonathan Naborre (Level 1 A, 8th grade)

● Lily Policastro (Level 1 A, 8th grade)

● Krystal Ramirez (Level 1 B, 7th grade)

● Michael DiVincenzo (Level 3 A, 10th grade)

● Sabino Gomez (Level 2 B, 9th grade)

● Kayla Hernandez (Level 2 B, 9th grade)

● Asa Sachs (Level 2 A, 9th grade)

● Nayeli Umana Bustillo (Level 2 B, 9th grade)

● Belinda Velasquz Maldonado (Level 4 B, 11th grade)

● Jayden Zambrano (Level 2 B, 9th grade)