5 Students Named National Merit Scholars

High marks on PSAT exam yield exceptionally prestigious award

Congratulations to the following students on meeting the requirements to enter the 2009 National Merit Scholarship Program. Students are Kelly Finn, Bea Halback, Jennifer Hsu, Chelsea Hulse, and Richard Lee.

Every fall the high school students in grades 9 - 11 write the PSAT. One of the side benefits of writing this exam is that students who excel have a chance to win a National Merit Scholarship - an exceptionally prestigious award. These five students are some of only 50,000 students selected from a pool of 1.5 million students who have shown outstanding academic potential.

Further, these students are now invited to be referred by the National Merit Scholarhip Corporation to two colleges or universities in the United States. This referral will highlight these students accomplishments to the college or university, and will encourage the college officials to communicate directly with these scholastically able students about educational opportunities that may be available to them.

Well done!!

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Outcome Close in Kids' Lit Quiz

Concordia middle schoolers tie for 1st, take 2nd in 'sudden death' round

Who writes the popular series Horrible Histories? What was Paddington Bear's favorite food?

If you know the answer to both of these questions, are between 11 and 14 years old and attend school in China, South Africa, Ireland, Wales or England, you may well be on your way to making it onto a Kids' Lit Quiz team near you.

Founded 17 years ago by University of Aukland children's literature professor Mr. Wayne Mills, Kids' Lit Quiz (or KLQ as it is popularly known) is a competition that seeks to honor middle school students who are widely read. 

On December 7, 2007, nine schools from the Association of China and Mongolia International Schools (ACAMIS) converged at Concordia for a nail-biter of a competition at the Kids' Lit Quiz China Finals.

A panel of judges scored 10 rounds of theme-based questions with topics such as "magic" and "transport" as hundreds of spectators waited with bated breath to see which four-member team would emerge triumphant (and to see how many of the answers they knew themselves).

"The competition was really exciting," said Ashleigh Carroll, a Grade 6 student at Concordia. "I didn't know who to cheer for since I attended the International School of Beijing (ISB) for several years and knew most of the people on the team."

Concordia Grade 8 teacher Terry Umphenour, an author of three novels himself, said, "I was really impressed with how much these kids knew about literature."

At the end of the three-hour competition, the four top teams were tied at 76 and 74 points. Shanghai American School and Yew Chung International School Shanghai went into a "sudden death" match with SAS walking away with third place.

Tied for first going into a "best of three" deciding round were Concordia and ISB. When Concordia scored the first point, the crowd went wild. ISB, however, showed grit and determination, scoring the next two points and walking away with their third consecutive championship. The team will now travel to Oxford, England, in the summer of 2008 for this year's KLQ world championship.

"The tightness of the match showed what avid readers we have in China and how well they were prepared," said ISB librarian Ms. Nadine Rosevear. Concordia librarian (and China Finals Organizer) Kimberli Gertz said, "I was so proud of my two teams. They really pulled together and showed grace under pressure. I know they will remember this day for the rest of their lives."

Scholastic China sponsored the China Finals by donating more than 300 books that were given as prizes at the end of each round. Alexis Chao, Scholastic China representative, said, "I was so impressed by how much the kids knew. It was very inspirational to see how much kids still love reading."

(Incidentally, curious about the answers to the questions posed at the beginning of this article? They are, respectively, Terry Deary and marmalade.)

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Math Students Rock on SATs

Six students earn, in total, seven perfect '800s' on SAT math tests

Six Concordia High School students have recorded seven perfect scores of 800 on the SAT math tests in 2007. Of all students who take the SAT math tests, only about half of one percent obtains a perfect score.

"For reference, a score of 700 (out of 800) puts students into a range that top-tier universities such as Harvard, Yale and Stanford are admitting," said Neil Whitehead, Concordia mathematics teacher. "Universities have more admittance criteria than math scores, but clearly these students have distinguished themselves as top math students."

The three math test variations are Math Reasoning and two subject tests, Math Level 1 and Math Level 2. Scoring an 800 on the Math Reasoning test were Lily Guo, Christian Kearsley-Pratt and Kelly Finn. Scoring 800 on Math Level 1 was Jong Min Lee. Scoring 800 on Math Level 2 were Lily Guo, James Miao and Michelle Jung.

The SAT is the university entrance exam for all universities in the U.S. and for many international universities when students apply from a U.S.-based system such as Concordia. Only students who plan to attend university take this test.

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