Eighth graders, their families, and Middle School faculty gathered on June 4, 2025 to celebrate the Middle School Closing ceremony. As they were presented with their certificate, recordings of each students’ reflections on their time in Middle School were shared. The ceremony also featured student performances, and messages from Middle School Principal Will Addis and Head of School Chris Benbow ’90. Following the graduation, families gathered in the Center for the Living Arts for a lovely reception. Congratulations to our rising ninth graders!
At the 2025 Integration Bee at West Chester University, Westtown students swept the podium earning the first, second, and third places! Third place in the high school division (along with a $50 gift card) went to Kyle Cui’25, second place and $75 went to junior Max Zhang ’26, and first place and $150 went to Jerry Rao’27. In the semi-final rounds, Westtown was very well represented with junior Tiantong Hu ’26 and sophomore Jamie Lee ’27. Tessa Kipnis ’26 and senior Vi Kanyamiheto-Watson ’25 also participated.
This year, Lower School hosted author and illustrator Matt Phelan for the 2025 One Story Week. In addition to illustrating books for other authors, Matt has written and illustrated many of his own, from picture books to chapter books to graphic novels.
The four days of special activities kicked off with an outdoor divisional gathering at the fire circle on Monday, followed by decorating and personalizing One Story Week tee shirts. On other afternoons, students participated in mixed-grade activities based on themes from several of Matt’s books. During these activities, fifth graders served as student leaders, assisting Primary Circle, first, and second grade students. The week culminated with a talk given by Matt Phelan in our Gathering Room.
Lower School Principal Karyn Payton shares, “Matt gave an engaging and inspiring presentation to our young artists and writers. He shared his journey to becoming an illustrator and author by connecting his childhood to our students’ using a photograph of himself as a first grader and drawings he made in second and fifth grades. Simply put, Matt shared that anyone who plays, uses their imagination, and/or draws can become an author or illustrator. Highlighting the phrase, ‘creativity is superpower,’ Matt’s tips for the creative process included starting with an idea, being curiously attentive to the world around you, and finding the story in history. Matt showed us an example of his own drafting to final story process for a graphic novel—from scribble to sketch to final picture.”
Thanks go to Heather Tannenbaum, Lower School Library and Media Specialist, and the Lower School faculty One Story Week Committee for planning this special week. You can enjoy the gallery of photos here!
Guest author/illustrator Matt Phelan and Lower School Librarian Heather Tannenbaum
At the end of the school year, students were inducted in to Las Alas Sociedad Honorífica Hispana de Westtown – the National Spanish Honor Society. The National Spanish Honor Society’s goal is to recognize high school achievement in Spanish and Portuguese and to promote interest in Hispanic and Luso-Brazilian studies. Upper School Spanish teachers Mercedes Ureña Durán, Juan Rodriguez, and Cynthia Voorhees and Middle School Spanish teacher Franco Yanelli led a candle-lighting ceremony (outside, of course!) then awarded students their certificates. ¡Felicidades, estudiantes!
Madeline Abah ’26 Logan Amaya ’28 Charlotte Anstine ’25 Kaitlin Boston ’27 Payton Corp ’26 Jesaiah Curden ’25 Ronan Duffy ’28 D-Liz Esaka Esaka ’27 Melissa Freeman ’26 Aneesa Hernandez ’28 Wynnie Herrera ’28 Tiantong Hu ’26 Addison James ’27 Brielle Kazemi ’27 James Kelleher ’26 Tessa Kipnis ’26 Emma McDonough ’26 Alex Moschella ’27 Gabriela Poyo ’26 Delia Sanchez ’27 Yeji Shim ’25 Avery Shorter ’26 Meredith Smith ’25 Grey Sobel ’26 Kate Stephan ’26 Radhi Sundararajan ’28 Ishana Sundararajan ’28 Alana Thomsforde ’25 Elijah Tulleners ’28 Maitreyi Vadigepalli ’27 Anqi Wang ’26 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. In addition, the National Junior Scholars for Excellence in Chinese award is to recognize our eligible Middle School 8th grade Mandarin students’ 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 12 new members into the society and renew seven students’ memberships, as well as award four Middle School students into the National Chinese Junior Scholar in Chinese.
At an induction ceremony in the South Room this spring, teachers Jie Song, Nina Li, and World Languages Chair Bei Zhang presented the students with their certificates. Congratulations!
The seventh grade Think, Care, Act project is the culmination of students identifying their strengths, interests, and talents, focusing on what they care about in their communities and world around them, then choosing a service project or organizationto donate time to related to these strengths and interests. Each student does 10 hours of service, which together makes 400 hours of community service performed by seventh graders! The Think, Care, Act Fair is the culmination of these projects and was held in the Uptown Lounge where students presented tri-folds describing their services projects and shared their experiences with parents, teachers, and fellow students. Well done, students, and shout to teacher Abby Lausch who created and shepherds this project!
As the premier biology competition for high school students in the United States, the USA Biolympiad (USABO) enriches the life science education of nearly 12,000 talented students annually. It provides the motivation, curricular resources, and skills training to take them beyond their classroom experience to the level of international competitiveness. Westtown students have competed in the national exam for the past two years.
This year, five students took the exam, administered on February 6 after school by science teacher Leslie Barr. They are:
Max Zhang ’26
Jerry Huynh ’25
Anqi (Angela) Wang ’26
Ela Mitra ’28
Mary Chen ’27
Of these students, Angela Wang qualified for semifinals. This semi final exam was during our spring break, (and only open to US residents). Angela has qualified for this honor for two years now, and has represented our school very well.
Please join us in congratulating all of this year’s participants in this national academic competition!
Students in teacher Ryan Black‘s Advanced Environmental Science classes visited the internationally renowned Stroud Water Research Center in Avondale, PA. Located along the pristine White Clay Creek, the Center offered an ideal environment for students to conduct chemical tests of water quality and assess aquatic biodiversity using a biotic index. The experience allowed students to observe what a healthy local stream should look like and compare it to the more impacted streams on our campus.
During the visit, students toured Stroud’s Platinum LEED-certified facility, which features vermiculture composting toilets and a streamhouse—an indoor laboratory where stream water is circulated for algae growth and controlled experiments. They also met with Stroud’s entomology team to gain a deeper understanding of macroinvertebrates and their role as indicators of stream health. Independent study student Mira Hartmann ’25 was able to tour their entomology lab and speak directly with the entomologist to gain insight into advanced analysis methods for the macroinvertebrate data she has been collecting on campus.
This immersive field experience enriched the students’ classroom learning and emphasized the importance of real-world, field-based research in understanding and protecting freshwater ecosystems.
Every year, as part of the teacher Abby Lausch‘s English Language Arts class, seventh graders learn about writing and storytelling and then work with the Primary Circle students—their “book buddies”—to co-author and illustrate a book. At the end of the year, the book buddies had a “publish party,” where they read their final books together, had a cool treat, and shared recess time. See more photos here!
At the end of the school year, fourth graders invited family and fellow Lower Schoolers to present their Living Museum, part of a research project centered on the lives of historical abolitionists. The project is a culmination of their social studies curriculum, which focuses on the history of this continent from pre-European contact through the abolishment of slavery. In this final “living museum” project, students share the work, struggles, and successes of many notable abolitionists. Well done, fourth grade! You can see more photos here.
