Rona Chumbook, who teaches French and Spanish at Kamiakin Junior High School and Lake Washington High School, announced the accomplishments of several of her first-year students who participated recently in national exams at both schools.

Four students earned national awards and 14 students earned chapter or honorable mention awards for their performance in the 2009 National French Contest and the 2009 National Spanish Examination. Each exam annually draws over 100,000 participants nationwide across several divisions. In the first-year division, 7,928 students entered the French contest and 26,930 students took the Spanish exam.

At the national level in the National French Contest, Kate Roberts, an eighth-grade student from Northstar who takes a French class at LWHS, ranked fourth nationally and first in the WA/AK chapter scoring in the 95th percentile, and Luke White, a ninth grader at Kamiakin, ranked eighth nationally and second in the WA/AK chapter, scoring in the 90th percentile.

At the national level on the National Spanish Exam, Josh Reyes, a ninth grader at Kamiakin, earned a silver medal, scoring in the 85th percentile. Grae Morgan, a junior at LWHS, earned a bronze medal, scoring in the 80th percentile.

At the chapter level in the National French Contest, other winners include ninth grader Lili Nyste from Northstar who takes a French class at LWHS, Allie Bouranova, Cara Kildall, Amanda Wright, and Bailey Gibart, all ninth graders from Kamiakin. Spanish exam winners earning honorable mention awards include ninth graders Avery Britton, Kristina Koumaeva, Jasmin Hurst, Alyanna Thongoulay and Snigdha Kanuparthy from Kamiakin JHS.