Students medal on 2026 National Spanish Exam

County students earned many medals on the 2026 National Spanish Examinations, with 17 winning a Gold medal.

Medals earned by the students are awarded as Premio de Oro (Gold, at or above the 95th percentile), Premio de Plata (Silver, from the 85th-94th percentile), and Premio de Bronce (Bronze, 75th-84th percentile).

Starr’s Mill High students earned 47 total medals.

Nine won Oro (Gold): James Bender for AP Spanish; Leila Dum, Diego Gonzalez, and Sarah Jivani for Spanish 3; Myles Collins, Sebastian Mendoza, and Maggie Tang for Spanish 2; and Giovanni Alvarez and Abdiel Melo-Hernandez for Spanish 1. 

Thirteen won Plata (Silver): Crista Alarcon Suarez for AP Spanish; Noah Brantley, Brayden Cross, Tahanee Etienne, Isabella Faler, Aaron Jiang, Jillian Moore, Emmeline Pacetti, Mckenzie Patterson, Bella Scott, Abdul-Jabbar Suleiman, James Walter for Spanish 2; and Felicia Genovese Spanish 1.

Twenty-five won Bronce (Bronze): Anna Bruijn, Naza Bueno Perez Lily Gloriod for AP Spanish; Leia Weber for Spanish 4; Elise Crandall, Jackson Haygood, and Michelle Huynh for Spanish 3; Jesse Boyd, Emma Garcia, Charles Greene, Violet Hellewell, Anna Hicks, Luke Honeycutt, Waverly Inagawa, Liam Klutz, Matthew Schiffman, Thomas Sewall, Evan Strickland, Brooke Willing, and Emme Wyler for Spanish 2; Victoria Berger, Angelina Bueno Perez, Ethan Fricke, and Meg Johnston for Spanish 1; and Nahomi Alcoba for Native. 

Whitewater High students earned 46 total medals.

Eight won Oro (Gold): Jonathan Hunter and Jacob Sims for Spanish 5; Zakary Bates, Miles Lewis, and Jaslene Portillo for AP Spanish); Noah McCotter and Caleigh Thiessen for Spanish 3; and Tatum Cooper for Spanish 2.

Fifteen won Plata (Silver): Fiyinfoluwa Abiodun-Findo, Umunatu King, Orhan Ozcan, and Elizabeth Toth for AP Spanish; David Martin for Spanish 4; Ally Martin, Jayden Payne, Jayden Robertson, Alexia Tognolini, and Adrianna Wright for Spanish 3; Aisling Caskey, Joseph DeRamos, Hakey Vallardes, and Landon Yaksh for Spanish 2; and Delaney Shaffer for French 1.

Twenty-three won Bronce (Bronze): Abigail Crump, Elsie Fanning, and Arianna Mitchell for AP Spanish; Tanner Dorshimer and Mayte Olvera for Spanish 4; Jose Devarez, Jaydan Dixon, Maddox Gardner, Sadie Miller, Emma Morgan, Carline Moses, Lucas Vick, and Hanna Wages for Spanish 3; Natalie Adkins, Brynlee Coombs, Annabeth LaRock, and Noelle Seaford for Spanish 2. Sofia Chumachenko, Isabelle Duer-Kraft, Headhy Gates, and Olive Longino for Spanish 1; and Janaye Powell and Clayton Mayfield for French 1.

Whitewater Middle students won 4 medals.

Janine Dako, Ginny Fernandes, and Charlotte Gerhardt won Silver for French 1. Avery Jaynes won Bronze for French 1.

The National Spanish Examinations are administered each year in grades 6 through 12, and are sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese. For more information, visit www.aatsp.org.