Students earn honors in National Spanish Exam
Posted on 05/18/2021
(L-R) Jennifer Salazar, Leona Crowl, Reagan Pierce(SPS) -- Three Sapulpa High School students were recognized for excellent performance on the 2021 National Spanish Examinations.

Sophomore Jennifer Salazar and junior Reagan Pierce won silver medals and senior Leona Crowl was named honorable mention.

Salazar, Level 2, scored in the top 10th percentile of students nationwide in the Bilingual category. Pierce, Level 3, and Crowl, Level 4, scored in the top 15th and 30th percentile of students in the U.S., respectively.

"This was a particularly noteworthy achievement for Leona as she had to study and prepare on her own for the exam since the Spanish 4 class was not offered this year," said Jon Boyne, Sapulpa High School Spanish instructor.

The National Spanish Examinations are online, standardized assessment tools for students in grades 7 through 12, given voluntarily by approximately 4,000 middle and high school teachers throughout the country to measure performance (interpretive communication) and achievement of students who are studying Spanish as a second language.

The exams are the most-widely used tests of the Spanish in the U.S. In the spring of 2021, more than 55,000 students registered for the National Spanish Examinations, including 12 Sapulpa High School students.

National Spanish Examination participants

(Left to right) Ashlynn Mathena, Payton Burton, Maribel Chávez, Ava Arthurs, Jennifer Salazar, Leona Crowl, Reagan Pierce, Aziah Perez, Anysa Andy, Brionna Evans, Lily Vance-McGarvey. Not pictured is Kaliyan Phanrasy.