May 19, 2015 - The National French Contest, sponsored by the Northeastern Pennsylvania Chapter of the American Association of Teachers of French (AATF), produced 137 chapter and 47 national winners from a pool of more than 400 elementary through high school student entrants from public and private schools in the Wyoming Valley, Milford, Scranton, Pocono, and South Williamsport areas.
The late Dr. Margaret Corgan created the program at King’s in 1969. Since its inception, more than 24,000 students have registered for the test at the College. Corgan, who retired as a member of the King’s faculty in 2012, was former chairperson of the department of foreign languages at King’s and past president of the local chapter. Continuing a tradition that began in 1977, King’s College hosted a dinner for area national and chapter French contest winners and guests in the Sheehy-Farmer Campus Center.
Local national winners are Crestwood High School students Sereina Brenhofer, Zachary Howton, James Lanning, Kyle Mitchell, and Yamina Sidmohand; Holy Redeemer: Alexis Davison, Briana Scorey and Isabelle Updike; Elk Lake High School: William Farnelli; Wyoming Seminary Lower School: Aishani Chauhan, John Coates, Emma Douthett, Elena Fenster, Kyle Hromisin, Jessica Kilyanek, Molly Leahy, Olivier Lew, Jonah Pascal, and Ashleigh Pyke; Wyoming Seminary: Estefania Aburto, Beyza Akinci, Paige Allen, Lauren Anderson, Rebecca Barnes, Chiara Caporale, Naomi Dressler, Sara Edgar, Jasmine El Boukili, Jinho Jang, Alyssa Kristeller, Emily Laurore, Duncan Lumia, Kerner Maygen, Meghna Melkote, Sukanya Roy, Iganacio Sacristan, Gabrielle Snyder, Isabella Sobejano, and Dominic Wright.
National winners who also received chapter awards are: Estefania Aburto, Beyza Akinci, Paige Allen, Lauren Anderson, Rebecca Barnes, Sereina Brenhofer, Chiara Caporale, Aishani Chauhan, Alexis Davison, Emma Douthett, Naomi Dressler, Sara Edgar, Jasmine El Boukili, William Farnelli, Elena Fenster, Zachary Howton, Kyle Hromisin, Jinho Jang, Jessica Kilyanek, Alyssa Kristeller, James Lanning, Emily Laurore, Molly Leahy, Duncan Lumia, Kerner Maygen, Meghna Melkote, Kyle Mitchell, Ashleigh Pyke, Sukanya Roy, Iganacio Sacristan, Briana Scorey, Yamina Sidmohand, Gabrielle Snyder, Isabella Sobejano, Isabelle Updike, and Dominic Wright.
Local chapter winners are Crestwood High School students Emily Anderson, Hayley Forgatch, Makenzy Golomb, Huntier Hashagen, Preston Israel, David Lackenmier, Kimberlee Ladner, Nathan Mehalick, Jessica Olszyk, Quinn Roberts, Emily Shiplett, Madison Steinbrenner, and Daniel Whitman; Elk Lake High School: Brianna Deater, Regan Saltzer, and Haley Skinner; Holy Redeemer: Ireland Davies, Arielle Djokoto, Rylee Gavlick, Maria Khoudary, Marc Kolendowicz, Angela Malinovitch, Isabel Panganiban, Paige Petlock, Erica Shay, Gabriella Soroka, Scott Williams, Thomas Williams, Haily Yakimowicz; Wyoming Area: Mason Egan, Keenan Lewis, Matt Silinskie, Anna Thomas, and Aaron Zezza; Wyoming Seminary Lower School: Emily Aikens, Camilla Caporale, Benjamin Crispin, Ainsley Eidam, Rebecca Hammerman, Jacob Kamps, Christina Kilyanek, Mya Pyke, Alyssa Shonk, Ashley Tarud, and Kelly Williams; Wyoming Seminary: Dominik Bohl, Celine Guichardan, Ryan Jackloski, Catherine Karpiak, Akhileh Khakhar, Andrew Kim, Michael Kim, Danica Mits, Suhay Murthy, Gabriel Pascal, Jabrea Patterson, and Lindsey Strouse; and Wyoming Valley West: Young Eun Park and Elizabeth Slusser.
Wyoming Seminary Lower School winners who attended the awards dinner at King’s College are, seated from left: Ainsley Eidam, Camilla Caporale, Alyssa Shonk, Mya Pyke, Emily Aikens, Molly Leahy, and Jessica Kilyanek. Standing: Kyle Hromisin, Emma Douthett, Elena Fenster, Aishani Chauhan, John Coates, Evan Hromisin, Oliver Lew, and Jonah Pascal.
Local high school French contest winners who attended the awards dinner at King’s College are, seated from left: Crestwood students Kyle Mitchell and Yamina Sidmohand; Wyoming Seminary students Gabrielle Snyder, Isabella Sobejano, Emily Laurore, Jasmine El Boukili Hancock, and Beyza Akinci; and Briana Scorey, Holy Redeemer. Standing: Renee Schwartz, AATF chapter president; William Farnelli, Elk Lake; Wyoming Seminary students Maygen Kerner, Dominic Wright, Chiara Caporale, Paige Allen, Iganacio Sacristan, Alyssa Kristeller, and Estafania Aburto Lara; Barbara Alfano, French contest administrator; and Elaine Burg, AATF chapter vice president.