An Exciting Fellowship Service Recognized Champions of Vocabulary Carnegie Hall Success Powerful Words

An Exciting Fellowship

Champions of Vocabulary

We are thrilled to congratulate Kayla Bowles ’21 who was selected as the first Encantos Fellow in spring 2020. She’s recognized for her writing talent, dedication and future potential. The Fellowship is a year-long mentorship, training, and stipend for emerging writers, artists and content developers to Photo courtesy of Business Wire. launch a career in the family entertainment industry.

Kayla’s passion for writing, art and filmmaking will thrive with the guidance of accomplished industry executives and we look forward to her future creative projects.

Service Recognized

Congratulations to Abigail D’Angelo ‘22 who is a recipient of the 2021 St. Vincent’s Hospital Youth Award. Abigail lives out the Ursuline motto of Serviam through her participation in food drives as well as teaching horseback riding to people who are visually impaired.

In August 2020, we proudly received the banner and trophy touting our place as Vocabulary Bowl champions of all Division II High Schools in North America. And in May 2021, we defended our title! Division II is made up of schools with 500–999 students. This year, 1.3 million students from 43,520 schools across North America participated in the Vocabulary Bowl. Between October 1, 2020 and April 30, 2021 Ursuline students mastered a total of 95,980 words. This is an achievement earned by every student at Ursuline, led by our English Dept faculty in all English classes.

Carnegie Hall Success

We are proud of two students who earned the chance to perform in the prestigious Carnegie Hall.

Singer Gabrielle Adams ’21 placed second in the Crescendo International Music Competition that qualified her to perform competitively in the Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall. She was proud to win first place and a grand prize in a competition that included musicians from all over the world. She said, “This experience gave me a glimpse into the professional world of opera from one of the biggest and well-known stages in the world.”

Saxophonist Olivia Cook ’21 competed in the 2019 American Protege Competition. She was awarded the Silver Medal and the opportunity to perform in the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. She performed “Bebop” by Dizzy Gillespie. Olivia is also a composer. She has been a part of the Juilliard Music Advancement Program for 4 years and is a member of the Lincoln Center Youth Big Band.

Powerful Words

We congratulate Jannett Martiena ’22 who was recognized by Lifting Up Westchester as a winner in their 2021 annual student essay contest. Lifting Up Westchester is a non-profit agency committed to helping individuals restore their independence. The essay topic was “What I Learned from the Pandemic.” Pictured here is Jannett being interviewed by The Journal News.

Bene Factum!

Each year, more than 130,000 students in a dozen countries take the National Latin Exam, a test on Latin grammar, vocabulary, mythology, and Roman culture. We are proud to name our students who earned recognitions. 2020 Gold Summa Cum Laude - Kelly Lahiff ‘23, Sophia Frank ‘22, Domenica Voli ‘20, Cecilia Visco ‘21, Stella Banino ‘20 Silver Maxima Cum Laude Gianna Calicchia ‘23, Christina Murphy ‘22, Lola Milazzo ‘22, Alexandra Stella ‘21, Nivethika Sujin Kumar ‘20 Magna Cum Laude Ava Snyder ’24, Morgan Adamson ’23, Katherine Mehler ’23, Arianna Ebanks ’23, Rachel Ortiz ’23, Hailey Dorsainvil ’21, Victoria Keenan ’22, Elizabeth Connelly ’21, Daphne Banino ’22, Faith Mallon ’21, Maria Silvestri ’20, Lorelei Wolf ’20 Cum Laude Jane Connelly ’23, Olivia Manger ’23, Claire Caltabiano ’23, Caroline Brody ’22, Taryn Comizio ’20 2021 INTRO TO LATIN EXAM Gold Medal, Summa Cum Laude Silvia Cuono ‘25, Catherine L’Helias ‘25 Silver Medal, Maxima Cum Laude Caralyn LoConte ‘25, Vishna Patel ‘24, Sophia Tang ‘24, Corrine Ross ‘24, Keira Merriman ‘24, Michaela Collins ‘24 Magna Cum Laude Katherine Miller ‘25, Annika Pitawala ‘25 Cum Laude Julianna LoParrino ‘24 INTERMEDIATE LATIN EXAM Gold Medal Summa cum Laude Kelly Lahiff ‘23 Silver Medal Maxima cum Laude Hailey Tyndale ‘23, Ava Snyder ‘24 INTERMEDIATE LATIN READING COMPREHENSION EXAM Gold Medal Summa cum Laude Rachel Ortiz ‘23 Magna cum Laude Nuala Reynolds ‘23, Gianna Calicchia ‘23 Cum Laude Elizabeth Riccio ‘22 ADVANCED LATIN PROSE EXAM Magna cum Laude Sophia Frank ‘22, Daphne Banino ‘22 Cum Laude Lola Milazzo ‘22 ADVANCED LATIN POETRY EXAM Gold Medal Summa cum Laude Cecilia Visco ’21 (earned a gold medal on this and all previous NLE’s, to qualify to apply for a $2,000 scholarship) Silver Medal Maxima cum Laude Alexandra Stella ‘21

Teaching Excellence

On April 25, 2021, Mrs. LaGumina and Mrs. Delucia represented Ursuline at the Fieri 36th annual scholarship award ceremony at which Ursuline was awarded The 2021 Laura Aiello Rinascimento Award for excellence in teaching Italian and in promoting the Italian language and culture.

Our World Languages Department also received a grant in 2020-21 for our Italian Studies Program from the Italian American Committee on Education (IACE). The grant provided several Italian classes the exciting opportunity to take virtual tours of seven Italian cities. Students donned their yellow tour caps and began their adventure in Milan. Second stop, Rome! In the past two years, the Italian faculty have received grants totaling $13,000 to be used for materials and programs. We are proud of our outstanding faculty!