Congratulations to the LMS Science Olympiad team for their performance at the National Tournament in Dayton, Ohio. Out of the top teams from around the country, they placed 14th in the nation!

Four events medaled:

1st place Microbe Mission: Christopher Ye and Cindy Wang
1st place Road Scholars: William Pan and Daniel Xu
3rd place Ecology: Steven Jiang & Ashna Chali
6th place Hovercraft: Eric Yin and Lucy Yue

There were quite a few top ten finishes, as well! The following students put in countless hours of hard work over the last year to prepare for the competition at this level:

Fayzan Ali
Ashna Chali
Yuvan Chali
Harry Chen
Jason Chen
Stephen Jiang
David Ju
Aditya Kondepudi
Shelei Pan
William Pan
Marina Sha
Emily Shaw
Cindy Wang
Daniel Xu
Max Yang
Christopher Ye
Eric Yin
Lucy Yue

Leor Goldfarb gave up a win he would have received after his opponent made an illegal move—and giving it up meant he was giving up a spot at the state tournament.

Leor was sent back to wrestle one more time after his graceful ceding of the match, and had one more chance to make state his senior year. He won.

Check out his story here.

Ladue Fifth Grade Center students participated in the MCTM State Math Contest in Columbia on Saturday, May 6. Four students placed in the top 10 and were eligible to move on to the national competition in Houston, Texas, on June 24.

In the state competition, there were 188 young mathematicians from Missouri eager to participate in four different math test categories. The four FGC students took 1st, 2nd, 6th, and 7th places for the individual overall category. The Ladue FGC teams took first, fifth, and sixth places. In addition to our four top ten winners, two students won ribbons in individual categories.

5th grade:
Aditya Jain – 1st place
Kevin Tang – 2nd place
Aric Wang – 5th place
Rohan Suri – 6th place
Ari Willick
Abheek Dhawan
Sophia Xu
Sarah Liao
Matthew Awad

Spoede:
Jonathan Yao – 1st place, 4th grade

Johnathan Yao won 9th place overall for fourth grade at the national event, and the Ladue Fifth Grade Center team came in 6th place in the national sweepstakes category.

Photo 1 is of Jonathan Yao (fouth grader at Spoede) who won 9th place overall for fourth grade. The second phono is Jonathan Yao and Aric Wang

The new Post-Dispatch public school guide compares schools on a variety of issues, including test scores. The guide ranked the 20 local elementary schools with the highest rate of proficiency on statewide tests on math, and Reed Elementary was ranked #2! Statewide, the rate for proficiency in math is 48.6 percent. At Reed, that rate is 80.2%. Check out the list here!

This year, five Ladue Horton Watkins High School students graduated from the 2017 STARS Program (Students and Teachers as Research Scientists), a six-week precollegiate research program held over the summer!

About 95 students from area schools worked with more than 60 local scientists from fields such as biology, chemistry, computer science, earth science, engineering, environmental science, mathematics, medicine, physics and psychology. The program runs six weeks and offers high school students an opportunity to gain some undergraduate-level research experience.

Over the course of the program, the five Ladue Schools students synthesized their work into research papers. The papers include:

• Justin Lam: “Process simulations and optimization of chemical looping combustion for mixtures of coal and biomass using iron based oxygen carrier” with the assistance of Dr. Ramesh Agarwal, Washington University.
• Sophia Li: “Comparing the neonatal feeding assessments scores of the NEO to the NOMAS” with the assistance of Dr. Roberta Pineda, Washington University.
• Leda Liang: “Stroke-based Vector Field Visualization” with the assistance of Dr. Henry Kang, University of Missouri-St. Louis.
• Annie Liu: “Development of a preclinical NF1-MPNST model suitable for drug discovery and evaluation” with the assistance of Dr. Angela Hirbe, Washington University.
• Sanya Vatwani: “Findings from an assessment and inventory of a regional, decentralized stockpile” with the assistance of Dr. Terri Rebmann, Saint Louis University.

The mentors are top researchers from Confluence Discovery Technologies, the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, Saint Louis University, Washington University in St. Louis and the host institution, UMSL.

“UMSL is happy to offer STARS students, who are some of the best and brightest, exceptional, collegiate research opportunities,” said UMSL Chancellor Tom George. “Hopefully the experience inspires them to become top scientists themselves and help make the world a better place.”

At the ceremony, George announced a scholarship covering tuition and offering $750 for books and research opportunities for any STARS student wishing to enroll at UMSL in fall 2018.

STARS is sponsored by the Office of the Chancellor at UMSL, SLU, WUSTL, St. Louis Symphony, Monsanto, Missouri Botanical Garden, Academy of Science of St. Louis, Easter Seal Midwest, St. Louis Children’s Hospital, St. Louis Zoo, St. Louis Symphony, University of Missouri–Kansas City, John Burroughs School and Boeing Co.

Twenty-one Ladue Horton Watkins High School seniors have recently been recognized as semifinalists in the 2017 National Merit Scholarship Competition—the highest number of Ladue Schools students to be honored in a single year, and more students than any other school in the state. These students qualified based on their performance on the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT) taken in their junior year.

“We are incredibly proud of these students. They have demonstrated the results that can be achieved through years of dedication to their studies and I have no doubt this is just the beginning of great accomplishments these students will experience,” Superintendent Dr. Donna Jahnke said. “This year, we celebrate the largest number of students to receive this recognition, but it’s important to remember that while this accomplishment is made in high school, every educator who has inspired and supported these students along the way has played a role in their success.”

All of these students are eligible for scholarships that will be offered next spring.

These students include (from top left to the bottom right of the attached picture): Abhay Cashikar, Anthony Schuster, Glen Morgenstern, Joel Hsieh, Charles Loitman, Aaron Umen, Eric Yang, Lily Hauptman, Audrey Wang, Julia Wang, Xiwen Zhang, Ryan Miller, Annie Liu, Evyn Levy, Justin Chen, Albert Liu, Aleesha Shi and Sophia Li. Levi Dyson, Macey Goldstein and Edward Wu were not pictured.

Morgan Taylor, a freshman at Ladue Horton Watkins High School, opened for Brian McKnight and Genuine at a benefit concert for Mathews-Dickey Boys’ and Girls’ Club last week at the FOX Theatre! This was the largest crowd Morgan has performed for to date. Check out the video below!

Around the district, Morgan is known for her strong voice and angelic melodies. Check out another clip here of Morgan (then an 8th grade student at Ladue Middle School) wowing well-known singer and songwriter Johnny Gill while he was touring St. Louis with Charlie Wilson (GAP band) and Fantasia. She sang “Total Praise” by Yaw Osei-Owusu and even shared her CD with Johnny!

Last year, she sang at the first Courageous Dialogue Meeting at Ladue Middle School and at AA Recognition Night.

Congratulations, Morgan!

Seventh grader Shreeya Ravindranath wrote an article for the St. Louis Jewish Parents Magazine entitled “Music—My first language”. Check out her article here, located on pg. 8!

The LHWHS speech and debate team competed in the Greater Saint Louis Speech Association’s Pre-Season Tournament on Sept. 30. This was the first tournament of the 2017-2018 season. Four novices competed in their first tournament!

Congratulations to the students who placed in their events!

VARSITY IMPROVISATIONAL DUET ACTING

• Cassie Beisheim (10) and Sunny Lu (10) – 1st place, tournament champions. Cassie and Sunny were ranked first in every round of the tournament!
• Ope Falako (12) and Claire Golden (11) – 5th place

VARSITY IMPROMPTU SPEAKING

• Fayzan Ali (10) – 5th place
• Anna Zhong (10) – 6th place

VARSITY EXTEMPORANEOUS DEBATE

• Sam Hiken (11) – 3rd place

NOVICE IMPROMPTU SPEAKING

• Gabe DiAntonio (9) – 1st place, tournament champion
• Huamin Gao (9) – 5th place

NOVCE EXTEMPORANEOUS DEBATE

• Jake Gerardi (12) – 1st place, tournament champion. Jake was undefeated in the tournament!
• Derek Raymond (9) – 5th place

The team’s next tournament will be Oakville Autumn Congress on Oct. 14.

Old Bonhomme Elementary is one of the new Let Me Run-STL teams this season!

Let Me Run is a nonprofit holistic health program for 4th through 8th grade boys that uses running to inspire and teach. Twice a week for seven weeks, trained coaches guide teams through the program, designed to amplify confidence, self-expression, and respect for others. Each fall and spring season culminates in a 5k race that celebrates the boys’ emotional, social and physical growth.

The LMR boys at Old Bonhomme, one of 17 regional teams, are up and running by 7:30 a.m. before school on their practice days. These are truly enjoying the lessons, are very engaged, and motivated to take on the school day after each practice.

The team recently talked about being a good team player and reinforced the lesson with everyone’s favorite: the downward dog tunnel! While the boys found it to be difficult to hold their positioning, they worked together and each boy successfully made it through the tunnel!

The boys love to run together, and fourth-grader Rohit Laddu shared that he thinks about the “Words to Live By” throughout his day.

What a great way to start your day and set you on the right path for the remainder of the day! Thank you, Old Bonhomme LMR Coaches – Matt Prange and Edna Rodriquez, for supporting our boys!

Moses Okpala is a junior at Ladue Horton Watkins High School, and he came to Missouri from Nigeria. KSDK told his story in a segment following his transition and success both through sports and academia. Check out the video below!

Below is a link to HEC-TV’s most recent #1 rated show, “Behind the Minds”. High school junior Marilyn Lercel’s video story about the eclipse was included at about the 1:40 mark of the show. Congratulations to Marilyn on this accomplishment!

The speech and debate team competed in the Parkway Classic hosted by Parkway West this past weekend. The team took 4th place overall!

Please congratulate the team members listed below on their individual accomplishments!

Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
Hale Masaki (11) – 3rd place

International Extemporaneous Speaking
Olivia Liu (11) – 4th place
Fayzan Ali (10) – Semifinalist

Novice Extemporaneous Speaking
Grace Hu (9) – 1st place
Jay Singh (9) – 2nd place
Gabe DiAntonio (9) – 3rd place
Anna Demkovitch (9) – Semifinalist

Original Oratory
Olivia Liu (11) – 4th place
Cassie Beisheim (10) – 5th place
Sunny Lu (10) – 6th place

Novice Original Oratory
Diora Ton (9) – 4th place
Athena Vinch (9) – Semifinalist

Humorous Interpretation
Phani Chintakunta (10) – 7th place

Duo Interpretation
Hale Masaki (11) and Joel Willick (11) – 3rd place

Program Oral Interpretation
Sunny Lu (10) – 6th place

Novice Prose/Poetry Reading
Ethan Willick (09) – Semifinalist

Congressional Debate
Levi Dyson (12) – 2nd place
Shaun Carr (12) – Finalist
Edward Wu (12) – Finalist

Policy Debate
Hale Masaki (11) and Olivia Liu (11) – Quarterfinalists

Novice Policy Debate
Gabe DiAntonio (9) and Likith Siddabathula (9) – 1st place
**Undefeated in the tournament — a perfect 7-0 record!

Public Forum Debate
Donovon Moore (11) and Connor Ross (11) – Quarterfinalists

Novice Public Forum Debate
Ari Gottesman (9) and William Xie (9) – 1st place
**Undefeated in the tournament — a perfect 7-0 record!
Ashna Chali (9) and Athena Vinch (9) – Quarterfinalists

The speech and debate team competed in its first conference tournament of the season this weekend, which they also hosted! The team took on this tournament after the original host canceled a few weeks before the tournament, and Molly Beck, the team’s coach, said that she and the students were very thankful to be part of such a supportive school community in undertaking this event!

Congratulations to the following students on their accomplishments!

​Domestic Extemporaneous Speaking
Hale Masaki (11) – 1st place
** Hale was ranked 1st by every judge!

International Extemporaneous Speaking
Sam Hiken (11) – 3rd place
Gavin Giuliani (10) – 4th place
Fayzan Ali (10) – 5th place

Original Oratory
Olivia Liu (11) – 2nd place

Radio Speaking
Anna Zhong (10) – finalist

Poetry Reading
Hale Masaki (11) – 5th place

Prose Reading
Olivia Liu (11) – 2nd place
Kevin Tan (10) – 3rd place

Storytelling
Eli Goldstein (10) – 7th place

Congressional Debate
Edward Wu (12) – 1st place
Levi Dyson (12) – 2nd place
Albert Liu (12) – 5th place and Permanent Presiding Officer

Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Connie Chen (10) – Semifinalist

Policy Debate
Olivia Liu (11) and Hale Masaki (11) – Semifinalists
Eli Goldstein (10) and Kevin Tan (10) – Semifinalists

Public Forum Debate
Levi Dyson (12) and Edward Wu (12) – Semifinalists

Congratulations to the following students who earned a place in the St. Louis All-Suburban Middle School Honors Bands. They were among the more than 500 students from the St. Louis Suburban District that took a blind audition.

“They represent themselves and Ladue Middle School with honor,” band director Aaron Lehde said. “I’m very proud of their hard work and dedication.”

• Sophia Liu, 2nd chair flute
• Benjamin Liu, 2nd chair clarinet
• Anthony Wang, 3rd chair trumpet
• Roshen Chatwal, 1st chair French Horn
• Bryce Bernstein, 3rd chair trombone

The All-Suburban Honors Bands will perform at Kirkwood High School on Jan. 7, 2018.

The following students have successfully auditioned into the All Suburban Middle School Honor Orchestra:

Olivia Hu, violin
Matthew Jing, violin
Rachael Lin, violin
Shreeya Ravindranath, violin
Emily Shaw, violin
Nevin Song, violin
Joyce Yu, violin
Lillian Chen, viola
John Cramblitt, cello

The All Suburban Honor Orchestras will perform at Ritenour High School on Jan. 6, 2018.

Congratulations to the following students who were selected as members of the All-Suburban Honors Band. These students won a blind audition as they competed against more than 500 students from the area!

Pema Childs, 2nd chair clarinet
Olivia DeHaven, 8th chair trombone
Gabe DiAntonio, 1st chair alto saxophone
Katie Eisenman, 13th chair clarinet
Sarah Eisenman, 1st alternate piccolo, 2nd alternate flute
Laura Ewald, 2nd alternate percussion-option 2
Alec Hines, 1st alternate percussion-option 2
Daniel Jung, 6th chair trombone
Daphe Levy, 1st alternate flute
Evyn Levy, 3rd chair clarinet
Kevin Li, 5th chair trombone
Hale Masaki, 2nd alternate tuba
Ian Pallares, 2nd chair percussion-option 3
Audrey Wang, 1st chair percussion-option 1
Alexander Ye, 8th chair clarinet
Max Yue, 24th chair clarinet
Alexander Zhou, 1st chair percussion-option 2

These students are eligible to audition for Missouri All-State on Dec. 2. The All-Suburban Honors Bands will perform at Kirkwood High School on Jan. 7, 2018.

The speech and debate team, the Talking Rams, competed in the Francis Howell North Events Round Robin and Troy Debate Round Robin this weekend. The team placed 3rd in events, 1st in debate, and 1st overall!

Tournament highlights…
– Swept 1st- 3rd in Novice Extemporaneous Speaking
– Swept 1st place in all three types of varsity debate
– Placed 1st in five of the six types of debate
– 4 debate entries were undefeated in the tournament

EVENTS

Foreign Extemporaneous Speaking
Fayzan Ali (10) – 6th place

Origina Oratory
Cassie Beisheim (10) – 3rd place
Sunny Lu (10) – 4th place

Radio Speaking
Levi Dyson (12) – 3rd place

Program Oral Interpretation
Jackson Bry (10) – 5th place
Sunny Lu (10) – 3rd place

Informative Speaking
Cindy Wang (10) – 1st place

Novice Extemporaneous Speaking
Gabe DiAntonio (09) – 1st place
Grace Hu (09) – 2nd place
Anna Reis (09) – 3rd place

Novice Original Oratory
Lauren Xie (09) – 4th place

DEBATE

Novice Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Anna Reis (09) – 1st place and undefeated

Novice Policy Debate
Gabe DiAntonio (09) and Grace Hu (09) – 2nd place and undefeated

Novice Public Forum Debate
Jake Gerardi (12) and Aidan Morley (12) – 1st place

Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Albert Liu (12) – 1st place and undefeated

Policy Debate
Sam Hiken (11) and Hale Masaki (11) – 1st place

Public Forum Debate
Levi Dyson (12) and Edward Wu (12) – 1st place and undefeated
Jackson Bry (10) and Sahana Raju (12) – 4th place

Congratulations to the Ladue School District students who were selected for the Community Music School of Webster University (CMS) 2017-18 orchestras and ensembles!

Each group performs several concerts during the school year. The concerts are free and open to the public and are held at the Community Music School Center, 535 Garden Avenue, Webster Groves, MO 63119.

The following Ladue Horton Watkins High School students are members of the CMS Preparatory Program:

• Daniel Diringer (9), cello
• Joel Hsieh (12), double bass
• Evyn Levy (12), clarinet
• Jacob Sheldon (10), viola
• Lilly Tung (10), violin
• Anna Zhong (10), violin

Concerts:
Sunday, Nov. 19, 2017 at 3 p.m.
Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2018 at 7:00 p.m.
Sunday, April 22, 2018 at 6 p.m.

The following Ladue Horton Watkins High School students are members of the CMS Percussion Ensemble:

• Laura Ewald (12)
• Amelia Malone (11)

Concerts:
Sunday, Dec. 17, 2017 at 7 p.m.
Sunday April 15, 2018, at 7 p.m.

The following Ladue Horton Watkins High School student is a member of the CMS High School Jazz Ensemble:

• George Pace (9), trumpet

Concerts:
Friday, Dec. 15, 2017 at 8 p.m.
Friday, April 27, 2018 at 8 p.m.

The following students are members of the CMS String Orchestra:

• Margaret Leung (5), cello
• Jasmine Li (7), violin
• Rachel Li (6), violin
• William Li (6), violin
• Rachael Lin (7), violin
• Steven Shaw (3), cello
• Mara Welch (6), violin
• Cami Wise (7), viola
• Sophia Xu, (6), violin

Concerts:
Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018 at 2 p.m.
Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 2 p.m.

The following students are members of the CMS String Ensemble:

• Christopher Chang (5), cello
• Alexander Farn (5), violin
• Kiera Palanca, (4), violin
• James Palanca, (5), cello

Concerts:
Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018 at 2 p.m.
Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 2 p.m.

The following students are members of the CMS Young People’s Concert Orchestra:

• Hugh Chan (9), violin
• Roshen Chatwal (8), French horn
• Micky Chyu (6), violin
• Katie Eisenman (9), clarinet
• Linnea Holy (11), violin
• Matthew Huang (7), violin
• Lillian Humphrey (11), flute
• Bryson Liang (7), cello
• Ryan Tung (8), violin
• Benjamin Wang (9), bass
• Harry Wang (9) violin
• Jason Xu (9), violin
• Melody Zhang (9), flute

Concerts:
Sunday, Jan. 21, 2018 at 6 p.m.
Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 6 p.m.

The following students are members of the CMS Young People’s Symphonic Orchestra:

• Megan Bernstein (12), clarinet
• Pema Childs (12), clarinet
• Sarah Eisenman (12), flute
• Daniel Jung (10), trombone
• Roland LaBonté (9), cello
• Wesley Lim, (11), viola
• Albert Liu (12), violin
• Moses Schindler (11), viola
• Emily Shaw (7), violin
• Lilly Tung (10) violin
• Daniel Xu (8), violin
• Daniel Jung (10), trombone

Concerts:
Sunday, Jan. 14, 2018 at 6 p.m.
Sunday, April 29, 2018 at 6 p.m.

The speech and debate team competed in their 2nd conference tournament of the year this past weekend. Congratulations to the following students:

United States Extemporaneous Speaking
Gabe DiAntonio (09) – 6th place

International Extemporaneous Speaking
Max Kornfeld (11) – 2nd place
Fayzan Ali (10) – 3rd place
Sam Hiken (11) – 6th place

Original Oratory
Sunny Lu (10) – 3rd place
Olivia Liu (11) – 4th place
Cassie Beisheim (10) – 6th place

Radio Speaking
Sam Hiken (11) – 6th place

Interpretation
Ande Siegel (11) – 3rd place

Poetry Reading
Sunny Lu (10) – 2nd place
Ande Siegel (11) – 3rd place

Prose Reading
Olivia Liu (11) – 3rd place

Storytelling
Eli Goldstein (10) – 7th place

Congressional Debate
Albert Liu (12) – 1st place and Permanent Presiding Officer
Levi Dyson (12) – 2nd place
Edward Wu (12) – 3rd place
Sahana Raju (12) – 6th place
Donovon Moore (11) – Finalist
Connor Ross (11) – Finalist

Lincoln-Douglas Debate
Albert Liu (12) – 2nd place

Policy Debate
Gabe DiAntonio (09) and Olivia Liu (11) – 2nd place
Phani Chintakunta (10) and Max Kornfeld (11) – Semifinalists