Friars rank number one in Illinois’ Academic Challenge in Engineering and Science (ACES) STEM competition among schools with less than 1,500 students.
For the second consecutive year, Fenwick High School has finished first in Illinois in the Academic Challenge in Engineering and Science (ACES) competition, formerly known as the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) program. “We are the top STEM school in a division that includes all high schools in the state with 1,500 students or fewer,” reported David Kleinhans, ACES moderator and chair of the Fenwick Physics/ Computer Science Department. “Twenty-four schools competed at the State competition in our division.
“We also finished second when looking at schools in our multi-state region,” Mr. Kleinhans continued, “to Clayton High School in Missouri by eight points out of 500 total points. Congratulations to their team and all the other competitors.” This year marks the tenth consecutive year that the Friars have reached the state finals. Since 2012, Fenwick is the only Illinois school to win a first, second or third place State trophy each year — and the only Catholic school to finish in the top three spots.
Approximately one year ago, Kleinhans shared that Fenwick won the IL State ACES science contest for the 2019-21 academic year. “In addition, Fenwick bested all the Missouri schools in attendance to finish first in the Midwest region,” he noted. “I was so proud of our students and their perseverance through the switch to eLearning and eTesting amid the onset of COVID-19.” Like last year, the Fenwick 2021 team was undeterred by the online coaching and test-taking, demonstrating tremendous focus, perseverance and “wild intelligence,” according to their proud coach, to capture another state title. The top five students in each subject area received medals. Fenwick’s individual winners are:
Math – 1st Finley Huggins (perfect score!)
Math – 2nd Logan Maue
Physics – 3rd Anna Dray
Physics – 3rd Daniel Majcher
Physics – 3rd Dmytro Olyva
Chemistry – 4th Finley Huggins
English – 4th Katy Nairn
The 14-member team (by class year and in alphabetical order):
SENIORS
- Anna Abuzatoaie ’21 (Melrose Park, IL, Grace Lutheran School) – either Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, Romania, or University of Medicine and Pharmacy of Cluj-Napoca, Romania (TBD)
- Anthony Battaglia ’21 (Melrose Park, IL, Grace Lutheran School) – University of Notre Dame
- Katie Cahill ’21 (River Forest, IL, Roosevelt Middle School) – University of Michigan
- Anna Dray ’21 (Elmhurst, IL, Immaculate Conception Grade School) – University of Notre Dame
- Therese Giannini ’21 (Wood Dale, IL, Immaculate Conception Grade School, Elmhurst) – Loyola University Chicago
- Jacob Korus ’21 (River Grove, IL, St. Cyprian Catholic School) – undecided
- Daniel Majcher ’21 (Chicago, Keystone Montessori School, River Forest) – Northwestern University
- Logan Maue ’21 (Oak Park, IL, St. Giles Catholic School) – University of Illinois
- Mary Rose Nelligan ’21 (Oak Park, IL, Ascension Catholic School) – University of Notre Dame
- Dmytro Olyva ’21 (Cicero, IL, St. Giles Catholic School, Oak Park) – University of Illinois
JUNIORS
- Vince Beltran ’22 (Berwyn, IL, Heritage Middle School)
- Zach Dahhan ’22 (Elmwood Park, IL, Elm Middle School)
- Finley Huggins ’22 (Oak Park, IL, Ascension Catholic School)
- Katy Nairn ’22 (Lombard, IL, Glenn Westlake Middle School)
Juniors at Fenwick are required to complete 30 hours of service to fulfill the third year of the Christian Service Project. For freshman year, students participate in a charity initiative in their Theology classes. Sophomores spend a day visiting people in need around Chicago and its suburbs. Junior year is when our service becomes more independent. Although a list of pre-approved volunteer sites is provided, it is really up to us to decide where we want to serve.
Since the year I went into seventh grade, I have spent one or two days a week each summer at