Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Kana Brajkovic '19, of Serbia, started studying French when she was 7 years old because her parents thought it would be a good idea to learn another language.
Since then, Kana has been to France more than 10 times and has grown to love the country and language.
Kana's passion for France was evident on the Le Grand Concours, which is the National French Contest of the American Association of Teachers of French, scoring sixth in the nation within her division.
"I took the exam just to test my French and to see how good I am at it," Kana said. "I didn't expect anything. This is unexpected. I guess I would say I'm still not aware of any success. I focus on my French, not on winning something. The most important thing is to know the language. Even if you excel at an exam, that doesn't mean you're able to speak French, and that's what matters most to me."
Kana received a gold award, meaning she scored in the top 95 percent on the exam, which had 18,137 students in Grades 1-12 take the 2018 version.
Twenty-five WMA Upper School students were recognized for their performance on the national test. Following the gold award winners, students who scored in the top 85 percent received a silver award, students who tested in the top 75 percent earned a bronze award, and students who recorded a score in the top 50 percent were granted a mention d'honneur (honorable mention).
For the Middle School, 13 students earned honors for their respective performance. Those students will receive their awards at the Middle School Closing Ceremonies May 31.
Below is a list of Upper School students who received awards:
Level 5
Nicolas Dubois '18 – gold; chapter rank: 1; national rank: 3
Kana Brajkovic '19 – gold; chapter rank: 2; national rank: 6
Anja Zindel '20– silver; chapter rank: 5; national rank: 10
Gorana Puzovic '19 – silver; chapter rank: 6; national rank: 11
Elizaveta Biryukova '19 – bronze; chapter rank: 7; national rank: 12
Gokul Sivakumar '19 – bronze; chapter rank: 9; national rank: 14
Level 4
Shiyin "Sally" Liu '18 – silver; chapter rank: 3; national rank: 12
Elizaveta Zalamova '19 – silver; chapter rank: 4; national rank: 13
Jeremy Dubois '21 – silver; chapter rank: 5; national rank: 14
Michael Carson '18, Liam Garrison '20 - mention d'honneur
Level 3
Emily Fafard '20 – bronze; chapter rank: 18; national rank: 21
Jack Perenick '21 – bronze; chapter rank: 18; national rank: 21
Yibo "Canna" Zhang '18, Angela Chen '19, Abigail Lacey '19, Nicholas Spellman '19, Yupei "Tina" Sun '19, Sara Troy '20, Jack Woodbury '19 - mention d'honneur
Level 2
Pierry Joseph '19 – gold; chapter rank: 3; national rank: 7
Karin Yamaoka '21 – gold; chapter rank: 4; national rank: 8
Marta Sanchez '20 – silver; chapter rank: 6; national rank: 10
Julia Puppolo '20 – silver; chapter rank: 10; national rank: 15
Rachel Wilson '18 -mention d'honneur
Level 1
Juan Pablo Esquivel Barbosa '21: bronze; chapter rank: 7; national rank: 12
Elda Urdaneta '18, Addison Wakelin '18, Delaney Miles '21 - mention d'honneur