GFS Students Earn Top Honors

Throughout the year, GFS students test their talents in regional, national, and international contests earning awards and recognition in languages, writing, debate, chess, entrepreneurship, scientific research, and more. 

“In putting their work and their voice forward, students are contributing to the global community of thinkers, writers, and humanists, and that’s so important.” - Alex Levin, head of the GFS English Department.

As a multilingualist beginning to explore poetry, Ayanna Uppal '25 experienced a divide in what she could express through her writing. She had learned a great deal from her grandmother who wrote poetry in Punjabi and Hindi. But as Uppal advanced in her study of English, she found that certain emotions and concepts so beautifully captured in Punjabi were difficult to translate to English.  

 

Uppal joined GFS in ninth grade and began an intensive study of poetic form and the history of language. Through this exploration, as well as the encouragement of teachers to experiment, Uppal was able to cross this divide and in the process, found her own distinct voice as a poet. Her work has been published internationally, and this year, earned the top Student Poetry Award from the Poetry Society of America. 

“We try to let students know that they’re not just writing for the sake of the teacher, but rather writing to be part of the larger international and transhistorical discourse,” said Alex Levin, Head of English. 

In her winning piece, “How to Define Distance,” Uppal was inspired to create a poem very reliant on imagery. She sought to make the physical form resemble the interior form.

Uppal cites her “History and Future of Language” class as unexpectedly influential.

“As I became more cognizant of the tool (language), and more aware of how and why various languages came to be, I was able to use it more centrally in my own form of expression.” 

At GFS, Uppal’s creativity was also fueled by two years of “Poetry Workshop,” a Directed Independent Study (DIS) minor on translation, and a DIS major in English literature. Even Advanced Biology informed her work, inspiring her to use the nervous system as a metaphor for panic in one of her poems.  

This fall, Uppal heads to Princeton University and vows to keep writing no matter where her studies take her.

Uppal’s Student Poetry Award is just one of many honors that GFS students receive every year. Some of these are individual achievements, and others are part of group or team efforts. While GFS’ educational ethos is centered on the joys of learning and intellectual exploration, we are always proud when our students’ hard work is recognized by outside organizations!  

 

Columbia Scholastic Press Association

GFS Earthquake writers and artists earned nine Gold Circle Awards, which annually recognize superior work by student journalists. 

Sebastian Woods '25: First Place, Hand-Drawn Art/Illustration for “Hook Lore”; First Place, Art/Illustration for portfolio of work; Third Place, Hand-Drawn Art/Illustration for “Rob Goodman, the Adolescent Brain, and The New York Times”; Certificate of Merit for “Redefining GFS”.

Rana Roosevelt '25: Second Place, Newsmagazine Cover for Fall 2023 Earthquake; Certificate of Merit for “Sexism on Campus”.

Izzy Spaniel '24: First Place, Feature Page Design for “Belonging”.

Alex Doraszelski '24: Third Place, General or Humor Commentary for “Hook Lore”, “We the Animals”, and “Rob Goodman, The Adolescent Brain, and The New York Times”. 

Amelia Swedloff '26: Certificate of Merit, News Features for “Let’s Eat Gramma(r)”.

Learn more.

 

Scholastic Art & Writing Awards

Middle and Upper School students notched 47 awards, 3 national* and 44 regional, from Scholastic, which recognizes creative teens’ work.

Zoë Fairweather '27: Honorable Mention, Poetry for “Matriarch”; Silver Key, Poetry for “Tantrum.”

Zoe Lallas '26: Honorable Mentions, Critical Essay for “Dreams and Explosions,” and “Thunder and the Supernatural”.

Andrew Li '26: Honorable Mention, Critical Essay for “From Glory to Gore in Macbeth”; Silver Keys, Critical Essay for “Black Power, Red Roots” and “When Two Makes One”.

Mori Light ’30: Honorable Mention, Flash Fiction for “A Rose Wood Casket;” Honorable Mention, Poetry for “Kitten”.

Campbell McCormack ’25: Gold Key, Gold Medal,* Science Fiction and Fantasy for “Death and Her Maiden”; Gold Key, Silver Medal,* Poetry for “October-Eyed”; Gold Key, Portfolio (Writing) for “The Earth Laughs Back”; Silver Key, Poetry for “Green”; Silver Key, Personal Essay & Memoir for “Hexed: The Story of a ‘Godless’ Witch”.

Will Pendse ’28: Gold Key, Flash Fiction for “The Hunter Within”.

Chenyue Peng ’26: Honorable Mention, Critical Essay for “Admission Unveiled: The Real Drama of College Admissions”; Silver Key, Critical Essay for “The Human Element Unveiled in Frankenstein”.

Rana Roosevelt ’25: Gold Key, Poetry for “Kin is Thick as Snakeskin”; Honorable Mention, Poetry for “Farmhouse Matrimony,” “It,” and “Storybook Letter to a Mirror with Rusted Iron Knuckles”; Honorable Mention, Portfolio (Writing) for “Venom-soft, Cheek-smooth”; Silver Key, Poetry for “Woman (obj.)”.

Maggie Ruger ’26: Honorable Mention, Short Story for “The Wrath of Ira”.

Milo Scanlon ’25: Silver Key, Poetry for “Lonely Lunch”.

Amelia Swedloff ’26: Honorable Mention, Personal Essay & Memoir for “All Things Go”;  Silver Key, Personal Essay & Memoir for “Death to Nonchalance: How to Lose the idgaf War”.

Shamah Telhaoui ’27: Gold Key, Poetry for “My Marriage Dowry”.

Ayanna Uppal ’25: Gold Key, Poetry for “Abecedarian for Fair & Lovely”; Gold Key, Portfolio (Writing) for “Partition”; Honorable Mention, Poetry for “Train Ride In Which I Become Your Long-Dead Indian Sweetheart”.

Addy Williams ’26: Gold Key, Silver Medal,* Flash Fiction for “Grown-Up”; Honorable Mention, Short Story for “Slippers, Rings, and Other Ill-Fitting Things”; Honorable Mention, Flash Fiction for “When Destiny Calls”.

Indy Wink ’26: Silver Key, Personal Essay & Memoir for “And the Rest is Drag”.

Emi Wong Shing ’27: Gold Key, Poetry for “Coolest Girl You Know” and “Please, Baby, Please”.

Sophia Xu ’28: Gold Key, Critical Essay for “The Repressive Forces of Victorian Society and the Fragmentation of Self in ‘Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde’”.

Reina Yagawara ’26: Honorable Mention, Poetry for “the bittersweet taste”.

Panyan Yan ’26: Honorable Mention, Personal Essay & Memoir for “Threads Across the Strait”.

Claire Yu ’26: Gold Key, Critical Essay for “How Macbeth’s Connection To Satan Led To His Spiraling Downfall”; Silver Key, Critical Essay for “Playing Carrot-and-Stick with the American Dream”.

Learn more.

 

NYT Personal Narrative Content

“The New York Times” personal narrative contest challenges high school students to write a story about a meaningful life moment in just 100 words.

Claudia Madrid ’27 was recognized with an Honorable Mention for her submission, “Effect”. Judges received over 12,000 entries.

Learn more.

 

National Greek Exam

The National Greek Exams are sponsored by the American Classical League and dedicated to the teaching and learning of Greek languages, literature, and culture. 

Gabriella Greenwood ’29, Maria Pappas ’29, Rohan Ramji ’28: Introduction to Greek
Merit Award & Green Ribbon

Will Pendse ’28: Intermediate Attic* Merit Award & Green Ribbon

Fi Abraham ’26: Attic* Greek Prose, Highest Honors & Blue Ribbon

Julian Zhao ’25: Attic* Greek Prose, High Honors & Red Ribbon

Maisie Quinn ’25: Attic* Greek Prose, Merit Award & Green Ribbon

*Name of the ancient Greek dialect spoken in Athens, which is often referred to as Classical Greek.

Learn more.

 

National Latin Exam

The National Latin Exam promotes the teaching and learning of the Latin language, literature and culture.

Latin 1a (Seventh Grade)

• Summa Cum Laude + Gold Medal: Isaac Hohns ’30, Mori Light ’30 
• Maxima Cum Laude + Silver Medal: Mackenzie Gordon ’30, Matthew Ma ’30
• Cum Laude: Riley Galloway ’30

 

Latin 1b + Latin 1 (Eighth/Ninth Grade)

• Summa Cum Laude + Gold Medal: Gabriella Greenwood ’29, Grace Marren-Cooke ’29
• Maxima Cum Laude + Silver Medal: Wesley Fas ’29, Lee Hayes ’29, Ivy Schaenen ’28, Gemma Stoneman ’29 
• Cum Laude: Jacob Feyissa ’29, Bash Hargrove ’29, Naomi Maron ’29 

 

Latin 2 (Ninth/Tenth Grade)

• Summa Cum Laude + Gold Medal: Kiran Chennupati ’28, Gus Conley ’28, Noa Friedan ’28, Minny Goldberg ’28, Jay Hangley ’27, Rohan Ramji ’28, Aidan Seideman ’28, Kavya Senthil ’28 
• Maxima Cum Laude + Silver Medal: Giulia DiBenedetto ’28, Theodora Farrell ’28, Siegfried Liu ’27, Daniel Martinez-Martinez ’28, Hadley McGraw ’28, Aaliyah Panyadahundi ’28, Lilla Riches ’27, Devi Simons ’28
• Magna Cum Laude: Naomi Allon ’27, Alfred Puntoni ’28, Theo Wilson ’28
• Cum Laude: Addie Krause ’28, Avianna Monchais ’28, Henry Noel ’28, Leo Pritzker ’28 

 

Latin 3 (Tenth/Eleventh/Twelfth Grade)

• Summa Cum Laude + Gold Medal: Charlotte Hong-Goranin ’27 
• Maxima Cum Laude + Silver Medal: Cole Fosnot, ’27, Evalina Heep ’27, Will Pendse, ’27, Cat Rogers ’27
• Magna Cum Laude: Max Light ’27, Andrew Li ’26, Alina Yu ’27
• Cum Laude: Kevin Li ’26, Luke Stoneman ’27

 

Latin 4 (Eleventh/Twelfth Grade)

• Summa Cum Laude + Gold Medal: Simon Berman ’26, Maisie Quinn ’25 
• Maxima Cum Laude + Silver Medal: Isha Naik ’26, Maggie Ruger ’26, Amelia Swedloff ’26
• Magna Cum Laude: Sarah Goldberg ’26, Tanya Lu ’26 
• Cum Laude: Sam Kelly ’26 

 

Latin 5 (Twelfth Grade)

• Maxima Cum Laude + Silver Medal: Julia Garrido ’25 
• Magna Cum Laude: Ame Hamrahi ’25, Benedict Tessler ’25, Izzy Torchinsky-Field ’25 

Latin 6 (Twelfth grade)

• Magna Cum Laude: Barry Liu ’25

Learn more.

 

National German Exam

The National German Exam is sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of German.

Charley Levin ’26 received a gold award for an almost perfect score.

Learn more.

 

GIDAS Research Conference

The Annual High School GIDAS Research Conference, organized by miRcore calls for original research for judging by a panel of professors from the University of Michigan and Scripps Research Translational Institute. 

Chi-Hsuan Tu ’27, Shamah Telhaoui ’27, and Levi Dubroff ’26, members of the GFS Genes in Diseases and Symptoms (GIDAS) Club, were selected to deliver an oral presentation, one of only 10 groups chosen from over 100 submissions nationwide.

Learn more.

 

Chicago International Violin Competition

This international competition held online provides a platform for promising young talent to exhibit their art on the world’s stage. 

Jiaray Shi ’25 was the youngest finalist in the Senior Artist Division for the Chicago International Violin Competition. 

Jiaray performance videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEciytuirhQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lc4Abkf5_-4

Learn more.

 

Virtual Enterprise National Elevator Competition

Coralie Lyford ’25 placed in the top 10% for their EverX business plan pitch.

Learn more.

 

Mid-Atlantic Finance and Youth Business Summit competitions

Mid-Atlantic Champions

Marketing: Hilal Vandenberg ’25, Priya Tewari-Grover ’26, Owen Mather ’25, Connor Clark ’25

Finance: Riya Mainigi ’25, Albert Yao ’25, Ben Carr ’25, Will Turk ’25

Human Resources: Coralie Lyford ’25, Barry Liu ’25, Leon Huang ’25

National Wild-Card Business Plan Competition:* Alayah Campbell ’25, Halle Smoger ’25, Sam Bekelman ’25, Dean Harvey ’25, Persi Coes ’25, Riya Mainigi ’25
*Semi-finalists at the Youth Business Summit

E-Commerce Website top 10%: Sam Bekelman ’25, Hilal Vandenberg ’25, Persi Coes ’25

Video Commercial top 25%: Hilal Vandenberg ’25, Persi Coes ’25, Priya Grover-Tewari ’26

Company Branding Honorable Mention: Persi Coes ’25, Hilal Vandenberg ’25, Priya Tewari-Grover ’26, Owen Mather ’25, Connor Clark ’25

VE-JV Eighth Grade: Eshaan Nandy ’29 won the national elevator pitch contest and the dream job essay competition.

 

University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic Tournament

Andrew Li ’26 and Luke Zhong ’26 took first place in the Varsity Public Forum Debate.

Jack Grodin ’26, Alex Goldsleger ’26, Adam Jones ’26, and Leo Cook ’26 also took home impressive wins.

In Novice Public Forum Debate, Madeleine Chen ’28 and Lillian Jun ’28 were quarterfinalists; Juliet Park ’28 and Sophia Xu ’28 were octofinalists; and Alisa Ding ’28 and Alda Liu ’28 ended the tournament with a positive record.

 

Florida Blue Key Speech and Debate Tournament

The FBK Tournament is the largest forensics competition in the Southeast and one of the largest in the nation. 

Andrew Li ’26 and Luke Zhong ’26 placed second in the round-robin competition and fifth in the general competition at the University of Florida. Only the top 10 teams from around the country are invited, with GFS now being the only Pennsylvania team to receive an invitation to the round-robin.

Learn more.

 

University of Kentucky's Digital Speech and Debate Series

The DSDI’s mission is to grow and sustain online and in-person speech and debate at the middle, high school, and higher education levels. 

Sophia Xu '28 and Juliet Park '28 won the tournament, and Maddie Chen '28, Lillian Jun '28, Alda Liu '28, and Alisa Ding '28 finished as double octofinalists.

The GFS Debate Team participated in the National Speech and Debate Association Season Opener at the University of Kentucky. Andrew Li and Luke Zhong (class of 2026) made quarterfinals and placed top six at the tournament out of over 400 teams. Additionally, Andrew was also ranked as the sixth best speaker in the tournament!  They both also received the first gold bid invite of the season to the prestigious Tournament of Champions.

Learn more.

 

Lehigh Valley Invitational 

William Kessler ’25, Ayanna Uppal ’25, and Julian Zhao ’25 of GFS’ Quiz Bowl team, took third place out of 18 teams. Additionally, Kessler was recognized as the second top scorer, and Zhao as the 12th top individual scorer.

 

Small School National Championship Tournament

The GFS Quiz Bowl team also finished impressively in fifth place out of 66 teams at the Small School National Quiz Bowl Tournament. In their most exciting game of the day, they nearly upset the team that ultimately finished in first place—it was neck and neck until the very last question. The Quiz Bowl team included: co-captains William Kessler ’25 and Ayanna Uppal ’25, Maisie Quinn ’25, Milo Scanlon ’25, Julian Zhao ’25, Chloe Rudderow ’26, Seth Kessler ’28, Oliver Rodgers ’28, and Simon Rodgers ’28.

Learn more.

 

MIT Entrepreneurship Club Competition

Three eighth graders, Eshaan Nandy, Louis Sincavage, and Jaden Wang were honored for their achievements: national (U.S. and North America champions) and international (second runner up or third place).

Learn more.

 

National Personal Finance Challenge

The Council on Economic Education sponsors both regional and national high school student competitions to build knowledge in the concepts of earning income, spending, saving, investing, managing credit, and managing risk.

Jacob Womack ’26, Elliot Capecchi ’26, and Vedant Srinivasan ’26 became the PA state champions in the National Personal Finance Challenge, only one question away from competing at nationals.

Learn more.