The Herald-Area student news for July 28

Tawnya Panizzi | Tuesday, July 28, 2020 10:39 a.m.

Recent Shady Side Academy graduate Giri Viswanathan is one of 16 national recipients of the 2020 National Latin Exam (NLE) Scholarship worth $2,000.

The scholarships go to high school seniors who won gold medals on the intermediate to advanced NLE during their senior year. Viswanathan has received a gold medal every year since he was in seventh grade and earned his final gold medal in spring on the Latin V exam as a senior.

Applicants must agree to take at least one course per semester of Latin or classical Greek in their first year of college.

Viswanathan plans to attend Yale University this fall.

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Aquinas Academy’s Thomas Bird has been honored as “one of the brightest young students in the world” according to the John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY).

Bird is a fifth-grader at Aquinas Academy in Hampton.

According to the CTY statement: “Bird received a High Honors Award for their exceptional performance on the SAT, ACT, or similar assessment taken as part of the CTY Talent Search. CTY uses above-grade-level testing to identify advanced students from around the world and provide a clear picture of their true academic abilities.”

Bird was one of more than 16,000 students from 66 countries who tested with CTY in the 2019-20 Talent Search year.

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Shady Side Academy will postpone its Homecoming & Reunion Weekend 2020 to the fall of 2021.

It will mark SSA’s first-ever double reunion year, with a celebration of reunion classes ending in 0s and 5s, alongside those ending in 1s and 6s. A specific date has not yet been determined. Details will be provided in spring 2021.

“We know that many of you, especially our reunion classes, were looking forward to homecoming this year, and we understand your disappointment upon learning about its postponement,” President Bart Griffith Jr. said. “However, as an alumnus, I know the experience of being together in person, back on campus, with cherished friends and classmates is something that simply cannot be replicated virtually and we believe it is worth the wait.”