Forty-eight seventh and eighth grade students at Shady Side Academy Middle School earned national and regional recognition for their performance on the National Spanish Examinations this spring.

Nationally, nine students earned gold medals (95th percentile or higher), six earned silver medals (85th-94th percentile) and nine earned bronze medals (75th-84th percentile). Regionally, nine seventh graders and one eighth placed in the top 10 in the Western PA Chapter to earn ribbons and prizes.

Eighteen eighth graders won awards for their performance on the exam:

• Will Karet - national gold medal, 10th place in Western PA Chapter (certificate)
• Samuel Farner, Tyler Hart, Gabi Jegasothy, Renee Long, Charlotte McDaniel, Connor Weldon - national gold medal
• Adam Lauer, Porter Markel, Julia Roupe, Clara Taylor, Grace Uhlman - national silver medal
• Gabbie Bernier, Celia Cangiano, Ashley Chu, Cayden Leavy, Jaya Patel, Jason Williams - national bronze medal

Six seventh graders won awards for their performance on the exam:

• Lars Barkman - national gold medal, 1st place in Western PA Chapter ($75 + ribbon)
• Vanessa Han - national gold medal, 3rd place in Western PA Chapter ($25 + ribbon)
• Sydney Demchak - national silver medal, 4th place in Western PA Chapter ($10 + ribbon)
• Lauren Jochims - national bronze medal, 5th place in Western PA Chapter (certificate)
• Jonathan Levy - national bronze medal, 6th place in Western PA Chapter (certificate)
• Jasmine DeBruce - national bronze medal, 7th place in Western PA Chapter (certificate)

Regionally, the following 24 students received an honors placement:

• Eighth graders – Watts Coulter, Mark Fire, Garrett Fuhrer, Avari Gupta, Ari Gutstein, Wesley Hopeman, Charles Katarincic, Jack Keating, Liam Lagnese, Ryan McLaughlin, Whitney McVeagh, Adeel Piracha, John Rohr, Henry Silverman, Noah Strauss, Max Wolfanger
• Seventh graders – Dhilan Fye, Dylan Green - 9th place in Western PA Chapter (certificate), Alexandra Jaffe - 9th place in Western PA Chapter (certificate), Samuel Luketich, Meredith Rath, Weston Warden - 8th place in Western PA Chapter (certificate), Sophia White, Renee Wilkins

Congratulations to all!