Student Standouts: Goldson ’24, Green ’25, Sanders ’27, Chen ’26, Cox-Garleanu ’26, Nuzum ’26, Zheng ’26, Saini ’27, Walker ’28, HOSA, TEAMS Competitors, Boys Golf, Girls Lacrosse
Congratulations to this week’s standouts below. Way to go #RamNation! And as always, if you have a story to share, please email weeklynews@micds.org.
Senior Declared a Girls Lacrosse Player to Watch
Senior Ava Goldson ’24 is highlighted as one of five high school girls lacrosse players to watch this season according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Last season, she was an All-Metro first-team selection, had 37 assists, 80 points, and 43 goals. After graduating from MICDS this spring, she’ll continue playing lacrosse at Claremont McKenna College in California. Let’s all cheer Ava on in her senior lacrosse season!
Strong Showing for Two Rams at New Balance National Indoor Competition
Last week was the New Balance National Indoor competition. Justyce Sanders ’27 competed in the freshmen 400m dash at the competition, finishing in the top 15 of the 85 girls. Sanders shared after her race, “Although everything didn’t go as planned in my race, I am walking away with my head held high. This experience has taught me valuable lessons and has only fueled my excitement for a great outdoor season ahead.” Congratulations to Justyce!
Our other athlete to compete at New Balance was one of our jumpers Nicole Green ’25. Green competed in the champions division in the triple jump and, despite suffering an injury weeks prior, came into the meet and PRed with an amazing jump of 11.87m landing her in 10th place at the competition. She shared, “Two weeks ago, I didn’t know if I was going to be able to compete. I thought my season was over. I came to New Balance #1 in Missouri. I wanted to prove to everyone that I was able to compete with the best of the best, and I did exactly that. All I did was trust the Lord, and he guided the way to 10th in nationals!” Congrats to Nicole!
Ellie Chen ‘26 Wins High School Piano Federation District Competition
Ellie Chen ’26 won the High School Piano Federation District Competition as a solo alternative early this March. Bravo, Ellie!
Two Sophomores Accepted into Missouri Scholars Academy
MICDS Student Places 6th in Brain Bee
The 14th annual St. Louis Area Brain Bee was held on March 2 at Washington University. The bee involved 60 high school students conducting experiments, exploring careers in neuroscience, and testing their knowledge of the human brain and nervous system. Congratulations to our very own Andy Zheng ’26, who finished in 6th place at the St. Louis Area Brain Bee! Learn more about the competition here!
Freshman Wins Public Speaking Contest through NorthSouth Foundation
Congratulations to Maahi Saini ’27 for winning first place in Senior Public Speaking at the NorthSouth Foundation contest this year! The NorthSouth Foundation (NorthSouth) is a volunteer-driven non-profit organization established in 1989. Educational Contests organized by NorthSouth in the US are designed to encourage academic excellence among children, K-12.
The Public Speaking contests were started in 2006 to “help and educate our children on how to prepare and present a speech before their peers or to a group of people.” Learn more about the contest here!
Eighth Grader Participated in US Soccer National ID Camp over Spring Break
Audrey Walker ’28 was invited to participate in the US Soccer U-14 National ID Camp in Atlanta, Georgia from March 19-25. These camps play a vital role in her continuing development as one of the most talented young female soccer players in the United States and are an important step toward identifying a pool of players who will compete for future places on the Women’s National Teams, and maybe one day, in the FIFA World Cup and/or Olympic Games. Way to go, Audrey!
Sophomores Win TEAMS STEM Competition
MICDS had 20 students compete in this year’s state-level TEAMS competition. TEAMS (Tests of Engineering Aptitude, Mathematics, and Science) is “an annual, theme-based competition that provides middle school and high school students with the opportunity to discover engineering with the potential to make a difference in the world. Every year, students and coaches across the country experience TEAMS.” The 20 MICDS students were organized into six different teams coached by Dr. Ethan Graf, Upper School Science Teacher.
The various components of the competition took place throughout the months of January and February. There are three components to the competition: 1) an essay, 2) a multiple choice test that requires the use of math and science skills to solve engineering challenges, and 3) a design/build competition wherein students are given a set of craft items and instructions to design and build a specific working contraption to solve an engineering challenge.
There were a total of 29 teams in the state of Missouri who competed. Out of these 29 teams, huge applause goes to a team from MICDS composed of Ellie Chen ’26, Joy Chen ’26, and Celia Swiston ’26 which earned first place!
In addition, check out some of the other top five team placements by MICDS student teams:
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A team consisting of Joseph Walsh ’25, Ian Boon ’25, Yash Malhotra ’25, and Arun Puri ’25 tied for third place in the state.
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A team consisting of Nina Bhayani ’25, Diya Makkapati ’25, and Sophia Huddleston ’25 ranked fourth place in the state.
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A team consisting of Abhinav Katyal ’25, Aniket Joshi ’25, Dalton Costick ’26, and Shil Penilla ’26 ranked fifth place in the state.
Way to go, STEM stars!
2024 Missouri HOSA State Leadership Conference Highlights
By HOSA Students
What a whirlwind two days MICDS HOSA had at the 2024 Missouri HOSA State Leadership Conference! A big congratulations to our Missouri HOSA President Amisha Poojari ’25 who has begun her presidential term and to Abhinav Katyal ’25 for being elected as a Missouri HOSA state officer! Congratulations to Yash Shelar ’26 of Medical Spelling and the Parliamentary Procedure team for ranking first in their respective events! Additionally, congrats to Diya Makkapati ’25 and Sophie Yokoo ’25 for placing third in MRC Partnership! Lastly, we also had numerous students place in the top five for their events! Thanks to our advisors and Upper School Science Teachers Christine Pickett and Stephanie Matteson for guiding us along this trip!
By Christine Pickett, Upper School Science Teacher and HOSA Faculty Sponsor
We had 19 students qualify to go to the HOSA State Leadership Conference in Rolla from March 25-26, which means they made top 10 in the state for their event. Of these 19, 17 chose to attend the conference. Of these 17, 14 made top five in their event and went to the stage. Of these 14, 9 made top 3!
Additionally, we had four students receive the Barbara James Service Medal, two take special exams, and, like mentioned above, Amisha Poojari was named MO State President for the 2024-2025 school year and Abhinav Katyal was name MO State VP at large for the 2024-2025 school year. His type of VP will be decided during a summer training conference out of three options based on individual specialties and strengths.
Boys Golf Places 3rd in Tournament
Congratulations to our Boys Golf Team who placed 3rd at the Bantle Tournament. Ben Gelven ’25 and Richard Sabalvaro ’24 earned medals by placing inside the top 10. Way to go, Rams!
MICDS Girls Lacrosse Defeats Burroughs for 12th Consecutive Time
The MICDS Girls Lacrosse team defeated John Burroughs 11-10 on Tuesday. Madison Sineff ’24, returning from having a torn ACL last year and happy to be back in the game, scored twice and Josie Ciaramita ’27 scored the game-winning goal. This was the 12th consecutive time that MICDS has defeated Burroughs since 2014. On Tuesday’s game, the score was tied 10-10 with 6:45 left to go. Read the recap of the game here, which notes the additional goal scorers and action! Way to go, Rams!