The eight students will be recognized for their high achievement in studying the German language.
READFIELD – Steve Hunter, Nate Trunnell, Mike Bessette, Sam LaVallee, Allison Kuhns, Jane Tyler, Venice Lombardo and Bryce Spalding, all Maranacook High School students of German, will be honored at a Blaine House tea on Thursday, May 29.
Gov. John Baldacci, teachers and parents will join other German students from Mt. Ararat, Skowhegan, Massabesic, Cony and Mt. View high schools who scored more than 76 percent on the National American Association of Teachers of German test given last fall.
Maranacook High School will also be honored by having the top four Level-5 AP students in the state, Hunter, Trunnell, Bessette and LaVallee, with Steve Hunter placing in the 99th percentile national ranking on the test. Jane Tyler will be honored as the top Level-2 student as well.
These students are among 25,000 who registered in this year’s testing program administered by the American Association of Teachers of German. The association is a national organization of 6,500 members. The national examination is a testing instrument similar to an SAT or MEA test. The results are reported with a raw score, a national percentile and a rank for all the Maine students who take the test. The test has listening, reading and grammar sections. At Maranacook High School the test is administered to all German two, three, four and five AP students.
At the Blaine House tea the students will receive certificates, books, medals and other prizes. The keynote speaker will be Richard J. Coyle, president of the Maine International Trade Center. Also speaking will be Ursula Reidel-Schrewe, professor of German at Colby College and AATG Maine co-president.
Speaking about the high level of achievement of the Maranacook students, German teacher Carol Ladd explained, “Much of the credit is due to the school’s support of middle school foreign language classes, the German-American Partnership Program and small upper level class sizes. I am proud of all my students and the continuing effort they make to master the German language.”
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