Student Standouts for May 30, 2025

Boys Lacrosse Scores 13th State Championship Title

Congrats are in order for the MICDS Varsity Boys Lacrosse team who beat CBC in the Class 2 Missouri Scholastic Lacrosse Association boys state championship game on Friday, May 23. This is the program’s 13th championship. The Rams claimed a 17-5 victory.

Read the recap of the final from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch here. The article tells how the Rams prepared for this match after losing to CBC in the regular season and played a picture-perfect game on Friday. It also summarizes how Graham Faust ’26, Ian Spakowski ’26, and Justin Bishop ’27 each scored four or more goals. Faust, with five goals, was named Player of the Game. Fantastic job, Boys Lacrosse!

Boys Tennis State Champs

Congratulations to our Boys Tennis team who was declared the Class 2 State Champions last Friday! They defeated Parkway West with a 5-1 win. Read the recap of the state championship competition from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch here. As Varsity Boys Tennis Head Coach Patrick Huewe states in the article, “We capped off the year with the team championship after winning in singles and doubles and did it without losing a match. I don’t know if that has ever been done. If it has, it is very rare.” This was the 18th state title for our school and the first undefeated boys season for Huewe who has coached for 25 years. Incredible job, Rams!

Two Recent Graduates Study and Advocate for More Sleep for Students

In an opinion article published on May 29, 2025 by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Sanjana Gandhi ’25 and Arjun Puri ’25, two recent graduates of MICDS, discuss the need for more sleep for high school students. They performed research during their senior year, which just concluded at MICDS. For their research, they planned a clinical trial within MICDS to see if an education-based intervention might improve sleep quality. Then, they included three separate interventions: “a brief presentation from our school’s guidance counselor regarding the underlying physiological mechanisms of healthy sleep; a small group Socratic style session on techniques to improve one’s own sleep; and an optional session led by a sleep physician on the topic of sleep and driving.”

They studied over 150 students in their trial and found “a statistically meaningful trend towards improved sleep quality.” Their next step was to expand their efforts, meeting with Missouri state representatives and senators, advocating for sleep curricula to be integrated into school health classes. Read more in the article here. Keep up the great work, Sanjana and Arjun!

Rams at the Squash Junior Club Championships

Two Rams recently took their squash skills to the Missouri Athletic Club’s Squash Junior Club Championships. Cella Held ’28 won a five-game battle in the Girls U19 Division and Hawk Bergquist ’27 participated in the Boys U19 Division. Way to go, Rams!

Freshman Makes USA Basketball Women's U16 National Team

A HUGE congratulations to Jordyn Haywood ’28 for making the 2025 USA Basketball Women’s U16 National Team! She is one of only 12 young women nationally to make it through four days of tryouts in Colorado Springs and be selected to the national team. The U16 National Team will compete at the 2025 FIBA U16 Women’s AmeriCup from June 16-22 in Irapuato, Mexico. Read more about this in an article by The St. Louis American here. Go Jordyn!

Freshman Coxswain Leads Rowing Team to Silver Medal

Andrew Li ’28, as the coxswain, and his Men’s 4+ rowing team won runner-up in the Men’s Varsity 3V4 race at the 2025 Dogwood Junior Championship Regatta.

There were 20 boats in total in the race. Li’s boat won third place (6:30.982) during the time trial of 1750 meters. They were still in third place (7:13.661) during the semifinal of 2000 meters. The team raced to second place (7:05.119) during the grand final of 2000 meters, improving by more than eight seconds and surpassing the TriStar boat, to bring home the silver medal.

Li has been practicing with St. Louis Rowing Club at Creve Coeur Lake for three seasons and has loved being a coxswain from the start, often with junior and senior rowers. Being a coxswain requires integrating a lot of skillsets—leadership, strategic planning, communication, teamwork, passion, bravery, perseverance, etc. Li has built his reputation among his coaches and rowers and looks forward to the next season. Way to go, Andrew!

Upper School Choir Awards

Six Upper School Choir students were recognized for their outstanding work during the 2024-2025 school year:

The Grade 9 Vocal Music Achievement Award is presented to two students who have demonstrated personal initiative and dedication, an excellent work ethic, along with a willingness to give of themselves in order to better the vocal music program. While demonstrating these criteria, these students have been positive role models and remain resolute in their musical goals.

The 2025 recipients are Shreeya Shelar ’28 and Jeremy Wang ’28.

The Director’s Award for Chorus is presented to a sophomore who shows great promise in the choral program through musicianship and leadership, through cooperation and enthusiasm, as well as in their own musical growth over the course of the year. This award recognizes an emerging young musical leader who demonstrates a positive attitude and brings a spirit of cohesion to their choir.

The 2025 recipient is Reina Banerjee ’27.

The Eleventh Grade Musicianship Award is presented to a member of the junior class in recognition of their boundless energy, musical versatility, humble spirit, demonstration of growth, strong leadership skills, and service to the Upper School Choir program.

The 2025 recipient is Ray Spencer ‘26.

The Leonard Bernstein Musicianship Award is given at the discretion of the director to honor a student or students whose musical contributions, dedication, and musical creativity set them apart as deserving of the highest recognition for their achievements.

The 2025 recipient is Grant LaMartina ‘25.

During the Commencement ceremony on May 18, it was announced that Joseph Walsh ’25 was selected as the recipient of the Excellence in the Arts Award.

For the second year in a row, Reina Banerjee ’27 was named the Grand Champion of the sixth-annual MICDS Sight-Singing Bee.

If you are unfamiliar with sight-singing, it is when a student is presented with a piece of music or a passage of music that they have never seen before and are asked to sing it on sight using the correct pitches and rhythms. Depending on the level of difficulty, the student is given between 45 and 60 seconds to study and rehearse aloud the excerpt before performing it for evaluation. “This is a skill that we work on in every single class, every day of the year,” said Dana Self, Upper School Performing Arts Teacher. “Some students figure the sight-singing puzzle out very quickly; others take a bit more time to develop their skills. But sight-singing is something I feel very passionate about as it is a skill that these young singers can use for the rest of their lives, whether it be in a college choir, church choir, community choir, or simply picking up a piece of sheet music just for fun.”

In addition to her success during the MICDS Sight-Singing Bee, Banerjee learned in October that she had earned a perfect sight-singing score during her audition for the St. Louis Metro District Choir. Her perfect score made her eligible to participate in the Missouri State Sight-Singing Bee sponsored by the Missouri Choral Directors Association. Banerjee traveled to Tan-Tar-A Conference Center in late January to compete against the other top sight-singers from throughout the state. The competition was incredibly tough, and even though she was eliminated after a couple of rounds, Banerjee said it was an amazing opportunity.

Banerjee shared, “There is a lot of pressure participating in a state competition because you must realize that everyone is good at sight singing and most people have perfect pitch, so people have advantages and are very good overall. It was my first experience doing this, and it was definitely outside of my comfort zone. Nevertheless, I wasn’t as nervous as I expected because I felt prepared, and even though I didn’t win, I still made the top 20 and got to meet some new friends. I also saw a different perspective on music from talented people’s views.”

Dana Self, Upper School Performing Arts Teacher said, “This is the first year that MICDS has had a student qualify for the Missouri State Sight-Singing Bee. Reina worked incredibly hard to prepare for the state competition, and she learned a lot by going through the process. She loves the challenge of sight-singing and is always working to take her skills to the next level. I would bet that she is already preparing for the competition next year!”

Congratulations to all the award recipients!

Track & Field Record Updates & State Qualifiers

At the Girls Track & Field Sectionals, Justyce Sanders ’27, Blaike Borders ’28, Morgan Macam ’26, and Grace Coppel ’25 broke the school record in the 4×400 Meter Relay with a time of 3:54.40. The previous school record was 3:55.41 set by Geneva Lee ’16, Margaret Sliney ’16, Paige Glover ’16, and Caitlyn Peters ’15 in 2015.

Additionally, Sanders tied the school record in the 200M Dash with a time of 24.66. She now holds the record with Jhordin Galmore ’19, who set the record in 2018.

Last but not least, the following Rams qualified for State:

• Henry Rohan ’26 and Elijah Weinman ’25 in the 100 Meter Dash
• Henry Rohan ’26 in the 200 Meter Dash
• Justyce Sanders ’27 in the 100 Meter Dash
• Justyce Sanders ’27 in the 200 Meter Dash
• Justyce Sanders ’27 and Blaike Borders ’28 in the 400 Meter Dash
• Grace Coppel ’25 in the 800 Meter Run
• Frances Applegate ’27 in the 3200 Meter Run
• Nicole Green ’25 in the 100 Meter Hurdles
• Justyce Sanders ’27, Blaike Borders ’28, Morgan Macam ’26, and Grace Coppel ’25 in the 4×400 Meter Relay
• Blaike Borders ’28, Morgan Macam ’26 , Grace Coppel ’25, and Ellemieke Ferguson ’27 in the 4×800 Meter Relay
• Gertie Habel ’27 in the High Jump
• Nicole Green ’25 in the Long Jump
• Nicole Green ’25 in the Triple Jump
• Alli Thelen ’25 in the Pole Vault
• Nicole Green ’25 in the Shot Put

State is Friday and Saturday, May 30-31. Let’s go Rams!