After going on a school trip to Peru, Wilbraham & Monson Academy's Ashley Bradway '18 realized just how many possibilities arose because she knew how to speak and comprehend Spanish.
Ashley's knowledge of the Spanish language is better than she even thought as she received a Gold Medal for her performance on the 2018 National Spanish Examination.
Ashley aced one of the two sections and finished with a score of 95 percent or better overall on the annual exam, which was sponsored by The American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese.
"I was quite surprised," Ashley admitted. "I tried when we had the exam to do the best I could."
Ashley was one of 29 students from WMA to reach medal status.
"I like the many doors that Spanish opens because when you speak Spanish you're able to talk to a bunch of different people," said Ashley, a student in Mr. Kevin Kane's Spanish 5 class. "While this is true internationally, Spanish is also very popular around us. I've used Spanish while grocery shopping. It also opens doors regarding culture as well, which is one of the main reasons why I've stuck with Spanish."
Below is the list of students who received a medal for their respective performance on the 2018 National Spanish Examination:
Level 5
Gold – Ashley Bradway '18
Silver – Nicolas Dubois '18
Bronze – Alexa Fleury '18, Maia Hutcheson-Jones '19, Celina Rivernider '19
Level 4
Bronze – Zhonghan "Scott" Jiang '18
Level 3
Gold – Luana Cavalca '18, Alan Toktassyn '19
Silver – Ingrid Salvador '19, Anja Zindel '20, Yuke "Heidi" Wu '19
Bronze – Jeremy Dubois '21, Maya Ferris '19, Zeyi "Jackson" Yan '19
Level 2
Gold – Gleb Zaytsev '19
Silver – Cecily Etti '21, Moonsu "Jackson" Kang '20
Bronze - Josh Besse '20, Lourdes Frempong '20, Loc "Randy" Nguyen '18, Matt Shaw '20, Yongwei "Albert" Zhang '19
Level 1
Gold – Hong Linh Duong '21
Silver – An Tran '21, Emily Fafard '20
Bronze – Syd Caro '20, Aidan Held '21, Grace Holland '21, Emma Feeley '21