Students In The News

The Math Counts team at Brecksville-Broadview Heights Middle School celebrated a series of individual and team accomplishments during their most recent competition at Ashland University Feb. 4.

All 12 BBHMS students participated in the first two rounds of the competition. Round one consisted of thirty problems that had to be solved individually without the help of calculators, while round two featured four sets of two problems each, with students required to complete each set alone in six minutes using calculators.

The third round featured a team format with four students from each participating school working together to complete 10 problems in 20 minutes.

Nine of the top finishers at the competition were from BBHMS, five of which were sent to the state competition at Columbus State College March 11. Those students include: Jeremy Hammel, first place (38 points); Alton Hirt, second place (37 points); Cole Hileman, third place (35 points); and Vanshika Myneni and Luke Maher, tied for fourth place (33 points).

Since the group began meeting at the beginning of October,  27 students have participated in Math Counts. The co-curricular group meets twice a week for approximately 90 minutes, during which students work on practice problems provided by the Society of Professional Engineers. BBHMS Math teacher Matt Auble has advised the Math Counts team for the past 30 years. During that time, three BBHMSvstudents have advanced to the national competition in Washington, D.C.

Senior Zach Zywiec has been selected as a Class of 2023 Presidential Scholar nominee. The United States Presidential Scholars Program is an honors program available through the U.S. Department of Education and the White House Commission on Presidential Scholars. Established in 1964 by an executive order of the president, the program recognizes some of the nation’s most distinguished graduating seniors for their accomplishments in many areas, including academic success, leadership and service to the school and community.

Of the nearly 3.6 million high school seniors graduating this year, approximately 5,000 students receive a nomination. In the coming months, 161 high school seniors will be selected from this pool of nominees to become distinguished U.S. Presidential Scholars.

James Patrick and Colette Sarli-Freeman, members of the BBHHS Talking Bees Speech and Debate team, have qualified for the National Speech and Debate Championships which will take place in Phoenix, AZ in June.

Both students have qualified for the national competition multiple times, with Patrick making his fourth trip and Sarli-Freeman advancing for the second time. Both students will be competing in the Congressional Debate category.

The following BBHHS students have earned 2023 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Those students include Ava Bellville, Sophia Boland, Elianna Gamboa, Hanbee Lee, Joe Nablusi, McKenna Mack, Chris Mei, Shashini Mohan and Evan Yetzky.

The students’ work was submitted to and adjudicated by a panel of creative professionals and recognized as some of the most outstanding artwork produced by Northeast Ohio High School art students. The submitted works were displayed at the  Cleveland Institute of Art in the Reinberger Gallery. Art courses at BBHHS are instructed by Mary Shaffer (Department Chair), Andy Hansen and Anne Jones.

The Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School Band Department was represented by several of its students at the Ohio State University Honor Band and the Kent State University Honor Band events Jan. 13-15.

In order to qualify, students had to be nominated by their band director and had to be recognized for their strong musicality and performance skills.

The students who participated at the Ohio State University event include Annie Dickhaut (clarinet), Eliana Gamboa (clarinet), Rowan Hauer (bass clarinet), Cameron Molina (euphoium) and Connor Smith (trombone).

An additional two students performed at the Kent State University All-Star Band event: Parker Ely (tuba) and Nick Fishman (trombone). ∞