Alicia Furman was an incredible soccer player and one of the top offensive threats in the state as a teenager, but now the J. Taylor Finley Middle School Spanish teacher gets her enjoyment from helping her students conquer their classroom challenges.
Ms. Furman is thrilled that a group of students she worked with this year have won honors in the National Spanish Exam initiative. The Finley teacher said that six seventh and eighth graders met with her on a regular basis to prepare and practice for the Level I and Level II exams.
“I am very proud of their dedication, effort and especially, their hard work,” Ms. Furman said.
Celina Monge Moreira claimed a Gold Award in the bilingual category. Lyric Martin garnered a Silver Award. Honorable Mention Awards were won by Nicholas Plachta, Riley Uvena and Erika Hernandez Veliz (bilingual). Mildred Hernandez Veliz captured a Participation Award.
“It’s so wonderful to see such effort and achievement during the pandemic,” Ms. Furman said.
The NSE is a series of exams for those on various levels of study. The tests, which are sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of Spanish and Portuguese, are voluntarily administered to students in grades 6-12 across the country.
The NSE was administered in paper form from 1957-2005 before moving to an online format. About 4,000 teachers across the country participate annually in the voluntary exam with classes that are studying Spanish as a second language. The test measures proficiency and achievement.
Attaining a medal or honorable mention recognition on the National Spanish Examinations is considered prestigious since the exams are the largest of their kind in the United States with more than 150,000 students participating annually.