At the latest board of education meeting, 24 students from Haddonfield Memorial High School were recognized for their performances on the National Latin Exam.
“You don’t start Latin until your freshman year, but German, Spanish and French you could start those as early as seventh and eighth grade. For that many kids to do so well in a national exam, it’s definitely a tribute to the program. Latin, unfortunately, is a dying program in most public schools … we applaud the fact that our kids do excel and that our teachers do such a wonderful job,” Superintendent Larry Mussoline said.
Three Bulldawgs – Declan Carthy, Jack O’Donnell and Evelyn Skyrm – earned the highest distinction of summa cum laude. Taking the second-highest honors of maxima cum laude were Madeline Bickel, Evelyn Ellis, Chloe Griffault, Eve Jensen, Kathryn McCaney, Elizabeth Metzler, Gemma Miller and Daniel Nolan. Patrick Ainsworth, Sofia Carusone, Jackson Casale, Jack McNamara and Madeline McLister placed third-highest and earned magna cum laude distinction.
Cum laude honors went to Audrey Bogina, Ava Cottone, Colin Fagan, Sasha Feinstein, Allie McNamara and Hillary Taylor, while Natasha Moskovitz and Eva Patenaude received a certificate of merit.
“These students obviously love the language; it shows in the awards they’ve received. The fact that they’re doing this not for the extra credit the colleges are looking for is really impressive,” said board of education curriculum chair David Siedell. “That’s one thing we can fix (on the committee) for the program, to give them more credit for the hard work they do.”
According to Siedell, at HMHS, advanced placement options are only available in the fourth year. Students who reach Latin III face a difficult course because there’s so much to catch up on to be ready for the national and AP exams, that he and the rest of the curriculum committee are attempting to turn it into an accelerated class. Siedell believes it would be the proper way to reward Latin students for their dedication to the language.
Mussoline later offered a presentation regarding the collegiate path of Haddonfield Memorial High School students who graduated from 2011 to 2014.
Among the key stats pertaining to graduates, 90 percent of the class of 2011 moved onto college the following fall, with a high of 95 percent coming in 2013; nearly 50 percent of 2011 HMHS grads enrolled in private institutions, while 42 percent enrolled in private institutions, and a high of 53 percent of 2013 graduates moved up to private colleges or universities.
One metric where the numbers are most noticeable is in the percentage of HMHS graduates who chose to attend out-of-state, as opposed to in-state institutions of higher learning. Only 19 percent of 2011 graduates chose in-state education, with a high of 22 percent from the class of 2013. Mussoline chalked those numbers up to the proximity of Haddonfield to Philadelphia, which boasts dozens of colleges and universities within and around its borders.
In other news:
- The board approved the creation of an Affirmative Action Team, which includes interim Assistant Superintendent Chuck Klaus, Haddonfield Middle School Principal Tracy Matozzo and HMHS Athletic Director Lefty Banos. Further approval of the work involved with the team is expected to be submitted at the board’s next meeting, which is scheduled for June 12.
- HMHS students Josie Foust, Lisa Edmonston and Anna Chung were recognized for winning the World Strides Music Festival Gold Award during a recent competition in Williamsburg, Va. The trio performed three selections at the start of the meeting.
- Board President Adam Sangillo confirmed that construction on various projects at Tatem Elementary School are expected to commence on June 21.
