Congratulations to the 28 new members and renewal of 19 returning members into Las Alas, Westtown’s chapter of the Sociedad Honoraria Hispánica (Spanish Honor Society). Las Alas recognizes students who have demonstrated high academic achievement in Spanish and a commitment to the study of Hispanic language and culture. As part of this national honor society, members are recognized for their excellence while also joining a community that promotes interest in Hispanic studies, cultural understanding, and leadership. ¡Felicidades, estudiantes!
New Members
Colin Adey ’29 Nelly Anadu ’27 Manmeet Basra ’27 Juliana del Beato ’26 Claire Bo ’27 Hudson Boyle ’29 Jamila Burgos ’27 Mary Chen ’27 Seamus Delaplane ’28 Michaela Gravel ’28 Lily Hartmann ’27 Elvis He ’27 Clay Hill ’28 Breydan Hossack ’27 Victor Lagerkvist ’28 Beatrice Makaruska ’28 Lyla Maki ’29 Megan Mou ’28 David Micciche ’27 Sam Nandagopal ’27 Nina Ren ’27 Kit Shi ’28 Jugad Singh ’27 Cristiano Secul ’29 Reece Turner ’26 Lucas Ubiera ’28 Kai Xu ’28 Daisy Zhuang ’27
Membership Renewal
Logan Amaya ’28 Kaitlin Boston ’27 Payton Corp ’26 Melissa Freeman ’26 Lily Hartman ’27 Aneesa Hernandez ’28 Wynne Herrera ’28 Tiantong Hu ’26 Addison James ’27 Brielle Kazemi ’27 James Kelleher ’26 Emma McDonough ’26 Alex Moschella ’27 Gabriela Poyo ’26 Avery Shorter ’26 Kay Stephan ’26 Ishana Sundararajan ’28 Maitreyi Vadigepalli ’27 Mady Wiley ’26
The National Chinese Honor Society was established in November 1993. Its objective is to acknowledge the superior achievement of secondary school students studying Chinese as a second language. Like other honor societies, the National Chinese Honor Society not only recognizes high scholastic achievement but also good character, leadership, and service. National Chinese Honor Society members should exemplify all these standards. The Society’s goal is to promote enthusiasm for Chinese language and culture learning, commitment to advanced study, and greater cross-cultural understanding. This is also the third year that we added the “National Junior Scholars for Excellence in Chinese” award for our eligible Middle School eighth grade Mandarin students to recognize their achievement in the study of Chinese language and culture.
After reviewing their Chinese course work throughout their middle school and high school years, examining the national standards set forth, and discussing the many qualifications of gifted students, the Westtown School chapter of the National Chinese Honor Society was pleased to induct 10 new members into the society and renew 10 students’ memberships, as well as award seven Middle School students into the National Chinese Junior Scholar in Chinese. Enjoy photos from the induction ceremony here.
The Deep Dive Certificate Program honors Upper School students who are engaged in an intentional, organized, and well-documented arc of immersive learning and focused scholarship. This program offers students the opportunity to explore study in particular areas of interest and Deep Dive certificates are offered in: Data-Driven Change; Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice; Global Leadership; and Sustainability Leadership.
Each of the Deep Dives are individually designed by each student, but have a common framework such as, building a portfolio of specific interdisciplinary academic requirements, off-campus immersive experiences, extracurricular activities, and a capstone project that ties together their learning and experiences into a cogent, reflective whole. They present their projects to peers and the community at the end of the year. The Deep Dives represent a tremendous amount of independent scholarly work and are a significant academic achievement that is reflected on their transcripts.
At the end of the school year, 16 members of the Class of 2026 were awarded Deep Dive certificates. Our congratulations to the following recipients!
Data-Driven Change: Ben D’Alessandro, Quinlan McLear Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice: Lucy Li, Logan Luo, Gabriela Poyo, Betty Savage Global Leadership: Camille Bley, Sage Brown, Melissa Freeman, Catherine Ingino Sustainability Leadership: Miguel Wenderoth Bachiller, Insaaf Imtiyaz, Tessa Kipnis, Mia Saks, Max Zhang
Front row from left: Betty Savage, Catherine Ingino, Sage Brown, Logan Luo; Middle row: Mia Saks, Melissa Freeman, Lucy Li, Gabriela Poyo, Payton Corp, Ben D’Alessandro, Camille Bley; Back row: Miguel Wenderoth Bachiller, Max Zhang, Quinlan McLear, Insaaf Imtiyaz; Not pictured: Tessa Kipnis
At the end of the year, fourth graders transformed the Lower School into a Living Museum, inviting families and fellow students to step into history through the voices and stories of influential abolitionists. As the culminating project of their yearlong social studies curriculum—spanning history of this continent from pre-European contact through the abolishment of slavery—students brought historical figures to life through research, storytelling, and performance.
From courageous acts of resistance to powerful movements for freedom and justice, the museum highlighted the work, struggles, and lasting impact of abolitionists whose voices helped shape history. We are proud of the work and care our students put into this project under the guidance and leadership of fourth grade teachers Marion Dear ’83 and Shelagh Wilson ’85. See more in the museum gallery here!
All students in math classes with the Advanced designation take the American Mathematics Competition (AMC), either 10 or 12. This is the first step in the process to qualify to train for the U.S. national team that competes in the International Mathematics Olympiad (IMO). After the AMC 10/12, students who score around the top 10% nationally of AMC 12 and top 5% of AMC 10 qualify for the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME). The AIME is a three-hour, 15-question exam that took place on February 5 this year. Finally, those whose combined scores from the AMC 10/12 and AIME are exceptional qualify for the United State of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO), which this year was on March 21 and 22, with two 4.5 hour sessions over two days to answer six questions.
Westtown students did well and the following students were the top performers this year. For the AMC 10, which comprises freshmen and sophomores, Megan Mou’28 and Brian Kim’28 both scored in the top 25% nationally. Eric Shen’29 scored in the top 10% nationally. The top three scorers at Westtown were: in third place, also scoring in the top 10% nationally, was Arial Xiong ’28. In second place, scoring in the top 5% nationally and qualifying for the AIME, Richard Xie ’28. And, in first place, also scoring in the top 5% nationally and also qualifying for the AIME, was Kai Xu’28.
For the AMC 12, comprising juniors and seniors, the top three scorers at Westtown were: In third place there was a tie between Tessa Kipnis’26 and Charlie Liu’27. In second place was Tiantong Hu’26. And, in first place, scoring in the top 10% nationally, qualifying for the AIME, and qualifying for the USAMO was Angela Wang’26.
Westtown math students also particiated in the the Purple Comet math competion and won first place for small high schools in Pennsylvania. (Notably, they just narrowly defeated George School!)
The team members were: Anqi Wang ’26, Tiantong Hu ’26, Jerry Rao ’27, Jamie Lee ’27, Jayden Qin ’28, and Megan Mou ’28.
In other math news, Westtown math students earned first and third place at the West Chester University Integration Bee on Thursday, April 23. Angela Wang ’26 earned $150 for first prize and Jerry Rao ’27 earned $50 for third place.
Congratulations to these students on their math acheivements!
From left: Math Department Chair Susan Waterhouse, Richard Xie, Kai Xu, Jayden Qin, Jamie Lee, Jerry Rao, Anqi (Angela) Wang, Brian Kim, Tiantong Hu, Charlie Liu, Eric Shen, Tessa Kipnis, math teacher Jacob Norton
Students in the Upper School Scientific Research class pursued ares of study such as biomedical research, molecular biology, animal physiology, biomechanics, and more. Throughout the year, students reviewed primary literature, developed protocols, and analyzed data. This course culminated in the preparation of a formal lab report written in a style suitable for publication in a peer-reviewed journal, and the presentation of a scientific poster at the end of the year.
This course requires a great deal of initiative, follow-through, and independent work, both in and out of the lab and the research presented at the poster session represents an immense body of work. See more of the poster session here!
This year, several Westtown students submitted work for the Scholastic Arts & Writing Awards, a national program and recognizes teen creativity with awards and scholarship money.
Writing awards were presented to Preston Morefield ’27, who earned two Silver Keys and one Honorable Mention 1 Honorable Mention for his work, and Jamila Burgos ’27, who was awarded one Silver Key and one Honorable Mention for her work.
Arts awards were granted to Peter Li ’28, Lucas Gong ’29, Laila Atkins ’27, and Oliver Daughenbaugh ’27, all of whom earned Honorable Mentions. Congratulations to all!
Clockwise from top left: Preston Morefield, Jamila Burgoa, Laila Atkis, Peter Li, Oliver Daughenbaugh, Lucas Gong
This year, five students competed in the Chester County Science Research Competition: Megan Mou ’28, Kai Xu ’28, Zimo Li ’27, Mary Chen ’27, and Daisy Zhuang ’27.
Zimo Li placed first in 11th Grade Earth and Space Science, Megan Mou placed first in 10th Grade Engineering and second place over all, and Daisy Zhuang placed first for 11th Grade Behavioral Sciences.
Since the three of them placed first in their grade and category, they were qualified to compete in the Delaware Valley Science Fair on April 1 at the convention center at Oaks, PA. At DVSF, Megan won first place in the 10th grade engineering category. She also won several special awards including first place from the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – Philadelphia Section, an Office of Naval Research Naval Science Award, and an honorable mention from the Society of Women Engineers – Philadelphia.
The Metal Moose robotics team 1391, along with FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) robotics teams across the world, was given the challenge for this competition season in January. The challenge comes with specific parameters of the game. This year’s game was called REBUILT and the objective was that the robot had to pick up yellow balls called “fuel” and shoot them into a tall box called the “hub.” It’s then up to the teams to build a robot that can complete this task with precision and ready it for competitions.
After months of prototyping, designing, building, and programming, the team attended their first competition in the second week of March at Seneca High School in Tabernacle, NJ. They were the captains of Alliance 3 and won the Quality Award, which celebrates machine’s robustness in concept and fabrication. Over spring break they continued to work on their robot, which they had dubbed Rufus.
Their second competition was in the first week of April in Philadelphia. The Metal Moose ranked first, winning the event with the team from Friends Central School and another team from Maryland. Additionally, they won the FIRST Impact Award, which is the most prestigious award in FIRST robotics. The Impact Award recognizes teams that best exemplify the mission of FIRST and serve as a model for other teams to emulate. (This is the video they produced for the Impact Award about their team’s community and STEM outreach program.) This competition was the most successful in the team’s history, as they ranked first, captained the first alliance, won the event, and also won the Impact Award. Additionally, Maitreyi Vadigepalli ’27 won the FIRST Leadership Award which “recognizes outstanding secondary school students (in their 10th or 11th grade/school year) who demonstrate exceptional leadership, technical expertise, entrepreneurship, and a deep commitment to advancing the mission of FIRST Inspire.”
The team qualified for the District Championship held at Lehigh University in mid April. At that competition, they were selected to be a part of the 4th Alliance, and qualified for the World Championship in Houston, Texas. The World Championship is for the top 600 teams of nearly 4,000 in the world. They were ranked #173 in the world, a testament to the hard work and talent of the team. Vadigepalli alsowon the FIRST Leadership Award at the district level, which is given to the top four students out of nearly 5,000 in our district.
At the World Championship they finished their season ranked in the top 5% in the world, and 6th in the state of Pennsylvania out of 77 teams. The students report that they had “an amazing time” at Worlds and are happy with the season.
Robotics coach, Steve Compton, adds, “The Metal Moose has qualified for the World Championship in 11 of the last 12 years, and finished this season in the top 5% in the world out of 3724 teams.” These are impressive statistics, but Compton is quite proud of the team’s Impact Award, which honors the team’s outreach and mission.“ This award is held to be the highest team culture award in the FIRST ecosystem, and honors teams that do good in the world.” According to the FIRST organization, “The Impact Award is the most prestigious award at FIRST. It honors the team that best represents a model for other teams to emulate and best embodies the mission of FIRST. It was created to keep the central focus of FIRST Robotics Competition on the ultimate goal of transforming the culture in ways that will inspire greater levels of respect and honor for science and technology, as well as encouraging more of today’s youth to become science and technology leaders.” Indeed, much for the Metal Moose and our community to be proud of. Well done!
Congratulations to the Epiphanies staff on their launch of this year’s issue of Westtown’s literary magazine! Epiphanies features work from Upper School students including poetry, short stories, photography, and art. Editor-in-Chief Tiantong Hu ’26 shares, “It has been a real honor for me to work with the other editors to bring this issue to life. We spent a lot of time in meetings together carefully choosing which literary and artistic pieces to include. I am so grateful to all the students who submitted their work. Their contributions really helped us create a diverse and vibrant magazine that represents so many different voices here at Westtown. I also want to thank T. Beth [Cope], our advisor, for all her support and guidance throughout the process. We hope that by sharing this digital copy, more people will get to hear the creative voices of our student body.” You can read a digital version of this issue here.
