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News from the Hill
“This news demonstrates, and affirms, the resilience and raw determination that is so prevalent in our students and our community. Not only did our students adapt to the massive spring disruption and reorganization of their normal AP preparation schedule, they responded by turning a challenge into an opportunity and posted the best scores in years. This is what it means to be a Titan.”
—Brian Easler, Head of School
WMA lands 5 National AP Scholar awards
Pandemic? No problem.
Despite one of the most challenging times in the 200-plus year history of Wilbraham & Monson Academy, the school’s students excelled on the 2020 Advanced Placement Exams, posting its best scores in recent years.
WMA landed five National AP Scholars, the highest award granted by the College Board. Additionally, six students received AP Capstone Diplomas. In all, more than 50 students earned recognition from the Board.
Hao “Harrison” Pan ’20 Jack Perenick ’21
Julia Puppolo ’20 Kyle Yamagishi-Rodstein ’20 Eungi “David” Youn ’20
—Valeri Wallace, AP Research teacher “Advanced Placement classes have demanding collegelevel coursework in which teachers must set high expectations and move at an accelerated pace. To have five National AP Scholars in one year for a small school like WMA is exceptional and noteworthy. I applaud each of the five National AP Scholars for their outstanding work ethic, strong command of material and genuine intellectual curiosity.”
—Erik Kindblom, Dean of Academics
WMA students who were honored by the College Board for their performance on the AP exams
nAtionAL AP schoLAr Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 4 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 4 or higher on eight or more of those exams
Hao “Harrison” Pan ’20 Jack Perenick ’21 Julia Puppolo ’20 Kyle Yamagishi-Rodstein ’20 Eungi “David” Youn ’20
AP schoLAr With distinction Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.5 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on five or more of those exams
Joshua Besse ’20 Keller Boothby ’20 Catarina Carter ’20 Zihan “William” Chen ’21 Saki Doi ’20 Xiaojing “Emily” Du ’20 Jeremy Dubois ’21 Liam Etti ’20 Emily Fafard ’20 Nathan Rivera ’20 Cole Salvador ’22 Jingting “Gina” Xie ’20 Zheng “Richard” Xie ’20 Xin “Julie” Xiong ’20 Yikai “Joe” Zhou ’20
Liam Garrison ’20 Tianqi “Wernich” Li ’20 Nicholas McLaughlin ’20 Yusi “Christine” Mo ’21 An Nguyen ’20 Jayce Nielsen ’20 Hao “Harrison” Pan ’20 Jack Perenick ’21 Julia Puppolo ’20 Pheeraphat “Pete”
Trairatanobhas ’20 Chuc An “Ann” Tran ’21 Jack Whitcomb ’21 Muwei “Katharine” Xu ’20 Kyle Yamagishi-Rodstein ’20 Yinqi “Sherry” Yang ’20 Eungi “David” Youn ’20 Tianyu “Joe” Yu ’20
AP schoLAr With honors Granted to students who receive an average score of at least 3.25 on all AP exams taken, and scores of 3 or higher on four or more of those exams
Shane Appiah ’21 Will Crocker ’20 Hong Linh Duong ’21 Mu Chieh “Jay” Huang ’20 Lauren Jamal ’20 Tendo Kalule ’21 Alexander Otte ’20 Vincent Sweeney ’20 Karin Yamaoka ’21
AP schoLAr Granted to students who receive scores of 3 or higher on three or more AP exams
Jonathan Adams ’20 Sydney Caro ’20 Jean-Pierre Catellier ’20 Ryan Cordeiro ’21 Charlotte Derose ’21 Grace Dineen ’21 Emily Fallon ’20 Grace-marie Gouin ’20 Michelle Itkin ’22 Katherine Johnson ’20 Gene Kang ’20 Moonsu “Jackson” Kang ’20 Theresa Kervick ’20 Sung Jung “Ron” Lien ’20 Mai Khanh “Kayla” Nguyen ’21 Norah Omar ’21 Kasey Reed ’20 AP cAPstonE diPLomA
Emily Fafard ’20 Liam Garrison ’20 Jack Perenick ’21 Julia Puppolo ’20 Chuc An “Ann” Tran ’21 Muwei “Katharine” Xu ’20
AP sEminAr And rEsEArch cErtificAtE
Shane Appiah ’21 Grace-marie Gouin ’20
• Zihan “Angela” Tian ’22
Zihan ‘Angela’ Tian ’22 writes 1 million word novel
Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s Zihan “Angela” Tian ’22 had surgery on her left leg in March 2020. To her dismay, she didn’t have access to Wi-Fi at the hospital. Bored, she started to write a story.
One million words later, she had her first novel—a fantasy fiction piece that loosely translates from Mandarin “Mi Ying Meng Die.”
Being published is nothing new to Angela. She received payment to have five of her poems published in China as a sophomore.
A year later, after posting her novel on a blog, she signed a contract with a Chinese company to have the first 300,000 words—equivalent to 100,000 English words—of her novel published. The publishing company designed the cover and edited the copy.
“It’s extremely exciting,” she said. “To get a book by myself published is amazing, even though after three days I wanted to publish more. But when you first get your book it’s exciting.”
To put the 100,000 words into context, Ray Bradbury’s “Fahrenheit 451” was 46,000 words, J.R.R. Tolkien’s “The Hobbit” 95,022 and Harper Lee’s “To Kill a Mockingbird” 100,338. There was a three-month stretch when Angela wrote roughly 1,300 words/day. Novelist Stephen King typically writes 2,000 words/day during a project.
Angela’s original goal was to write about the political and historical fields. However, she realized getting books published in that realm was difficult. She shifted to a novel format, which gave her the freedom to write about anything she desired.
In her novel, the protagonist is born in a protected environment. However, after unintentionally threatening the regional powers, she is kicked out. She travels the world through various political systems “trying to learn why people are targeting her.”
Angela’s book is for sale on Amazon, Apple, Koko, Thalia, Bol.de, Angus & Robertson, Vivlio, Barnes & Noble and Lulu. Hmmm, doughnuts or cookies?
Tough choice.
Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s Mrs. Gayle Hsiao surprised her Entrepreneurship class—and especially two of her Dutch students—when she invited Holland native Joost Elling to Zoom with the group in September.
Mr. Elling, founder of Joost Wafel Company in Delaware, explained his career journey to WMA students, which included Marenthe Hofstede ’21 and Binnert Van Den Blink ’21 of the Netherlands.
Always one to have a trick up her sleeve, Mrs. Hsiao had Mr. Elling’s treats delivered to WMA for the students to enjoy. Binnert chose a stroopwafel cookie, while Marenthe went for a ooliebollen donut.
“Joost Elling is the son of my neighbor in Bethany Beach (Delaware). His dad introduced him to me as ‘my son, the entrepreneur!’ You can imagine how that piqued my curiosity. After hearing his story, I had in the back of my mind that he would be a good guest speaker for my class someday because he started making his stroopwafel cookies when he was only 13.”
—Mrs. Hsiao
• Marenthe Hofstede ’21, left, and Binnert Van Den Blink ’21 of the Netherlands.
Students win trio of Model UN delegate honors
There are a lot of words that come to mind when describing COVID-19.
For Wilbraham & Monson Academy’s Jack Perenick ’21 and Michelle Itkin ’22, a key word for them was “adapt.”
When the school’s Model United Nations program shut down at the Academy in 2020–2021 due to the coronavirus, it was a devastating blow to many members of the popular class.
Jack and Michelle, though, refused to go a school year without their favorite extracurricular activity. They took action, forming a studentrun group “to connect WMA students to international affairs and discourse on world events,” said Jack, the team’s president.
“This year has required a significant willingness to adapt, and the Model U.N. world has been no different. When Michelle and I saw how difficult it would be to keep up our usual Model U.N. program, we decided to take advantage of the situation and start the WMA International Relations Association.”
The result of their efforts was nothing short of astounding. At the conclusion of the Yale Virtual Model U.N. Conference, held in January 2021, three WMA students—Jack, Michelle and Madeleine Soukup ’22—earned honorable delegate awards for their performance during the U.N. Committee simulations. Only the top 5 percent of participants received awards.
Eleven WMA students took part in the four-day event, which included 7 to 10 hours of opening ceremonies, an admissions panel, speakers, lectures by Yale professors and approximately 16 hours of committee sessions.
Jack represented The Kingdom of Denmark in the World Bank.
“In my committee, we spent the weekend debating how to change global trade policy to adapt for the world after the pandemic,” he described. “We also discussed how World Bank funds should be allocated in the future to better prepare for and reduce the devastation of global disasters.
“Just like many Model U.N. sessions, by the fourth day we arrived at a compromise, driven by hours of debate, resolution drafting and amendment, not to mention unofficial consensusmaking negotiations.”
Michelle served as a delegate for the State of Israel in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
“Our goal was to write a resolution on the future of the committee in regard to the war in Afghanistan,” explained Michelle, vice president of WMA’s program. “In the end I wrote and passed a resolution forming an overlap committee joining NATO and a new ‘Near-Eastern Coalition’ that would provide aid to the region and facilitate peace talks with the Taliban.”
Meanwhile, Madeleine was a representative for Lithuania in the United Nations Economic, Scientific, Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
“This was my first Model U.N. conference so I was unsure of what to expect, especially since the conference was virtual,” Madeleine said. “My goal was to speak at least once per committee session to get my points across. My resolution was not passed, but I did merge with several groups prior to the final resolutions and was able to keep many of my points.”
WMA often wins an award, maybe two, at the annual Harvard Model U.N. event, typically held in Boston, Massachusetts in January. But three, and by a student-created program? That may be a first.
“It was an excellent opportunity to return to YMUN and debate in committee, listen to lectures from Yale faculty and again be recognized with a delegate award, among some of the other WMAIRA members,” Jack said. “I hope WMA can continue to attend YMUN in future years, and our students can continue to learn about international relations and discuss global events.”
• from LEft: Madeleine Soukup ’22, Jack Perenick ’21 and Michelle Itkin ’22
