LANSDALE – The North Penn School District is proud to recognize eight students from North Penn High School (NPHS) for their outstanding achievement in the Montgomery County Association of Teachers of Foreign Languages (MCATFL) James J. Doyle Oral Proficiency Contest held on Tuesday, February 28 at Plymouth Whitemarsh High School.

This annual contest provides a forum for students to measure their oral skills in a foreign language against students from other schools in the county. Individual interviews are conducted by foreign language professionals to determine which students are most proficient in the second language.

The contest is open to students from MCATFL member schools. Students must have learned their foreign language in a classroom in the United States. Students who speak the language as their primary tongue at home or who have spent more than six consecutive weeks in a country where the language is spoken are not eligible to compete.

In this competition, students were individually interviewed by a judge at the first round. Two students selected from each level advance to the second round in which these finalist are interviewed again by several judges.  In this interview, each student may be asked to perform a role play on a given topic in front of an audience including all participants and teachers.

Congratulations to the following students in the Japanese language class who received first and second place in this annual contest:

Samel Fogel (Pennfield Middle School, Grade 9) First Place, Level 0I

Zachary Karpf (Penndale Middle School, Grade 9) Second Place, Level 0I

Lamya Shusmi (NPHS, Grade 11) First Place, Level I

Peter Ng (NPHS, Grade 10) Second Place, Level I

Ella McCoy (NPHS, Grade 12) First Place, Level II

Abir Islam (NPHS, Grade 11) First Place, Level III

Peter Lee (NPHS, Grade 12) Second Place, Level III

Christine Ma (NPHS, Grade 12) First Place, Advanced

While the following may not have received awards at the county level, we would still like to acknowledge the outstanding students selected to represent North Penn at the county-wide competition:

Caitlin Rissmiller (NPHS, Grade 10), German Level III

Jay Patel (NPHS, Grade 11), German Advanced

Samantha Kendikian (NPHS, Grade 10), Japanese Level II

Jisoo Lee (NPHS, Grade 12), Japanese Advanced

Steven Kendikian (NPHS, Grade 12), Spanish Advanced