Gwinnett Daily Post

Photo by Corinne Nicholson

Fourteen students who recently graduated from schools in Gwinnett County are among more than 2,900 winners of National Merit Scholarships financed by U.S. colleges and universities.

Officials of each sponsor college selected their scholarship winners from among the finalists in the 2011 National Merit Scholarship Program who plan to attend their institution.

These awards provide between $500 and $2,000 annually for up to four years of undergraduate study at the institution financing the scholarship.

The student winners are:

* Gabriella L. Anderson of Lilburn, who attended Parkview High School

National Merit Auburn University Scholarship

* Stanley R. Ayzenberg of Duluth, who attended Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology

National Merit Georgia Institute of Technology Scholarship

* Cristina V. Azcoitia of Dacula, who attended Dacula High School

National Merit Auburn University Scholarship

* Shelby C. Bentley of Lawrenceville, who attended Dacula High School

National Merit University of Georgia Scholarship

* Jessica A. Bristor of Lawrenceville, who attended Mountain View High School

National Merit Auburn University Scholarship

* Conner A. Bryan of Lawrenceville, who attended Collins Hill High School

National Merit Georgia Institute of Technology Scholarship

* Jack W. Eidson of Atlanta, who attended Wesleyan School in Norcross

National Merit Tufts University Scholarship

* Adam D. Greenstein of Duluth, who attended Norcross High School

National Merit Georgia Institute of Technology Scholarship

* Thaddeus J. Howard of Buford, who was homeschooled

National Merit University of Dallas Scholarship

* Conner A. Jones of Snellville, who attended Brookwood High School

National Merit Auburn University Scholarship

* Emily A. Overcash of Stone Mountain, who attended Parkview High School

National Merit University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Scholarship

* Sampurna Mandal of Lilburn, who attended Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology

National Merit Georgia Institute of Technology Scholarship

* Marcus A. Raimondi of Suwanee, who attended Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology

National Merit Vanderbilt University Scholarship

* Silvia D. Vaca of Stone Mountain, who attended Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology

National Merit Georgia Institute of Technology Scholarship

Gwinnett students

earn top scores

in Spanish language

Results from the 2011 National Spanish Exam are in and show that of 5,549 public and private school students across the state who took the exam, six Gwinnett County Public Schools students earned Georgia's top scores, placing first on this national exam.

The state's top performers on the Level 3 Spanish Language Exam were Hamdi Abdi, Stephanie Diaz, Allison Fisher, Brittany Thompson and Andrew Wirt, all of the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science and Technology. Diaz took the exam in the bilingual category while the other students participated in the regular category.

Pan Su Kim of Brookwood High earned top marks on the Level 4 Spanish Language Exam.

In addition to these students, the scores of another 23 foreign language students placed them in the top 10 of state performers. Students who obtain first through sixth place in the state receive medals and certificates from the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, which sponsors the National Spanish Exam. All participating students also receive a dictionary from Teacher's Discovery.

Archer and Brookwood students earn

top French score

Two Gwinnett County Public Schools students earned Georgia's highest score on the National French Exam, a tool administered annually across the nation to assess the students' acquisition of the language.

Michael Le of Archer High, who was an 11th grader during the 2010-11 school year, placed first in the state and third in the nation while taking the Level 1 French exam. He was a first-year French student, and Tamarra Soto was his French teacher.

Stephane Hosty placed sixth in the nation and first in Georgia on the Level 4 French exam. He was a fourth-year French student, and Christophe Powers was his teacher during his senior year.

In addition, 36 other GCPS French students earned the top-10 state rankings, with 25 of those students placing in the top 10 nationally.

The National French Exam is part of the National French Contest/Le Grand Concours, an annual competition sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French. The level of each exam corresponds with the number of years the student has been taking that specific foreign language. French has six levels.

Heather Darenberg writes about education. Good News From Schools appears in the Sunday edition of the Gwinnett Daily Post.