Orange High School students excel in Mock Trial district competition

PEPPER PIKE, Ohio — It was a clean sweep for Orange High School at the virtual Mock Trial district competition hosted by the Ohio Center for Law-Related Education in January.

OHS students took home all 16 individual awards.

Not only did OHS Mock Trial advance its four district teams to the regional competition, winning all 20 judges’ ballots, but all eight attorney awards and all eight witness awards available in the trials in which they competed were garnered by OHS students, according to a news release from the Orange City Schools.

Orange students earning Best Attorney awards were Mia Peterman, Kerry Kelly, Emma Berlin, Mira Swirsky, Jenna Friedman, Aidan Stearns, Truman Williams and Sophia Stepanyan.

The school’s Best Witness award winners were Remy Perry, Caitlin Jonke, Lily Warshawsky, Nora Igelnik, Peyton Weiss, Ellie Uher, Gabe Feinberg and Maya Korland.

The regional competition will be held virtually Feb. 18 and will include Orange teams Wicked Twister, Gemini, Dragster and Maverick. All OHS teams this year are named after roller coasters at Cedar Point.

Teams advancing from the regional competition will take part in the state competition in March.

Kiwanis Student of the Month

Orange High School senior Allie Ahn has been named the Kiwanis of Lander Circle Senior of the Month for February.

A four-year member of the Student Government Association and Class of 2022 representative, Allie has served as president of SGA for the past two years and was vice president her sophomore year.

The high-achieving student, who took nine AP classes during her four years of high school, has received the Highest Honors Award throughout her OHS tenure and was presented with the Brandeis Book Award for her commitment to civic engagement and community service.

A four-year OHS Marching Lion band and wind ensemble member, she also serves as vice president of the award-winning OHS Mock Trial team and secretary of the Book Buddies mentoring program.

As an American Red Cross donor ambassador, Allie spent two weeks of training and two years of service at the Warzel Red Cross Blood Donation Center, where she continues to volunteer to create a clean and safe environment for people to donate blood.

She is also an office manager at United Dental Care, where she has worked the past two years.

This fall, Allie plans to attend Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn., where she will major in neuroscience.

Every school year, the Kiwanis Club of Lander Circle recognizes six seniors for their leadership, integrity and academic achievements.

Spelling bee winners

Brady Middle School held its annual spelling bee in January, with students in each grade competing in person.

The eighth-grade winner, Anshul Sharma, has advanced to compete at the upcoming virtual Cuyahoga County Spelling Bee, which will be a spelling and vocabulary test this year. He has an opportunity to qualify for the Scripps National Spelling Bee May 30 to June 3 in Oxon Hill, Md.

Anshul’s winning word was “Arapaho.”

Panka Karman finished second in the eighth-grade competition, while Ishan Bhatt and Sam Tokmazeysky tied for third place.

In seventh grade, Raina Patel earned first place, while Jacob Bartko placed second and Dashiell Miller-Rao and Russell Melvey tied for third. Raina’s winning word was “fortuitous.”

The sixth-grade winner was Armaan Chepyala, whose winning word was “brocade.” Philip Rodenborn earned second place in that group and Muhammad Shahbaz finished third.

The Orange Elementary and Middle School PTA hosted the event, with gift card prizes for the winners in each grade.

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