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Fenwick Repeats as ACES State Champion!

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.

Mr. Kleinhans

“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:

One of 10 senior leaders, Anna Dray ’21 is heading to the University of Notre Dame next school year.

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

Logan Maue ’21 will continue his studies at the University of Illinois (Urbana Champaign).

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
Finley Huggins ’22 is one of four juniors on the team.

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)
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Mathematically, the Friars Are Number 1!

Fenwick won the 3AA Illinois Regional competition in 2021 and placed sixth at the State Meet, where it was one of only two Catholic/private school teams in the Top 10 field.

“Thank you so much to all 40 team members and [to] Ms. Sabbia, who put in so much time and effort to get Fenwick ranked once again as the No. 1 Catholic school,” praises long-time Moderator/Coach Roger Finnell ’59. The State Meet is organized into four divisions, by school enrollment, Mr. Finnell explained, and this year “no Catholic school had a better score [than Fenwick’s 541] in the two most difficult divisions.” (See below.)

Toby Yang ’24 is the State Champ for Algebra 1!

Freshman Toby Yang ’24 (Oak Park, IL) had a perfect score in Algebra 1 and is the Illinois STATE CHAMPION! (Also see below.) He is the second Friars’ student in the 41-year history of the state math contest to have a perfect score in a written event. “The only other was Logan Maue ’21 last year [as a junior] in Algebra 2,” Finnell reports. Maue also hails from Oak Park.

Junior Finley Huggins ’22, another Oak Parker, tied for second in Algebra 2; Maue tied for fourth in Pre-Calculus and senior Daniel Majcher ’21 (Chicago) tied for 7th in Pre-Calc before item analysis broke the ties. (Scroll down for complete competition results.) In February, Huggins posted the highest score in either division at the Archdiocese of Chicago’s Math Contest, which Fenwick won (again):

Fenwick ‘Mathletes’ Claim Chicago Archdiocese Crown

Captain Logan Maue ’21 Reflects

Mr. Finnell deserves all the thanks in the world for all the work he puts into the team each and every year. I have had the great pleasure of having the last three out of my four years at Fenwick being taught math by Mr. Finnell. (I was taught calculus one year by the also legendary teacher Mr. Arscott.) Mr. Finnell has also been in charge of many of the BFG shows I have done. So, from a variety of angles, I have gotten to see and appreciate firsthand all the effort that he puts into making Fenwick such an amazing, special place. He has taught and inspired generations of Fenwick Friars, and I am so incredibly grateful that I had the privilege to be taught and mentored by him.

Logan Maue

This year, practicing for the state competition was filled with difficulties: the state competition date was moved earlier and combined with regionals, among others too. Regardless, we were still grateful that a state competition was occurring in any capacity. Nearing the state competition, Mr. Finnell had many days in a row coaching practices. Still, in light of these difficulties, the team did remarkably well, placing Top 10 in the state once again. The seniors will be heading off to the mysterious water of college. As awesome as the seniors are, I begrudgingly admit that the years to come for the Math Team will be bright, even without us. With Mr. Finnell as the coach (and for every year since the foundation of the ICTM competition), the Fenwick Math Team has performed extraordinarily well for decades, creating a legacy of excellence. Now with phenomenal standouts, such as Finley Huggins and Toby Yang, and many other exceedingly talented Friars (and future Friars, I am sure), this legacy of excellence will undoubtedly continue.

The past four years on the Fenwick Math Team have been excellent. I enjoyed every last second pouring over past problem sets and finding unique solutions to difficult problems. However, the memories I will be carrying with me for the rest of my life are the memories of getting to hang out with my friends, especially the seniors. The seniors on this team are so incredibly talented, with an incredibly diverse range of talents and interests. From many other activities and varsity sports, the number of talents and accomplishments the other seniors have outside of the math team could also fill pages. From Sam Sikora recently qualifying for weightlifting nationals to Ronan Kristufek becoming a three-time Irish Dancing Mid American Champion (and that’s only two things from two of the seniors!), a group of incredible people come together to compete on the Fenwick Math Team. Getting to be in the company of all these wonderful people has been a blessing, as behind all these layers of accomplishments are the amazing, kind, funny people who I have gotten to know. The memories of the carpools to Concordia, the long haul to Champaign, the time we went to Steak ‘n Shake, and simply talking with each other in the quiet moments all stick out as core memories. Though I will miss these times, I am ever more grateful for them happening.

And here are the regional and state results:

REGIONAL SCORES

Overall Team

1. Fenwick  541
2. Hinsdale South 367
3. Glenbard South 339
4. Riverside-Brookfield 285
5. Fenton 64

Individual Awards

Toby Yang- 1st in Algebra 1
Mallory Turner- 3rd in Geometry
Finley Huggins- 1st in Algebra 2
Hugo Nunez- 2nd in Algebra 2
Logan Maue- 1st in PreCal
Daniel Majcher- 2nd in PreCal

Algebra 1 Team

1. Fenwick 106
2. Hinsdale South 100
3. Riverside-Brookfield 76
4. Glenbard South 40
5. Fenton 26

Geometry Team

1. Fenwick 54
2. Hinsdale South 42
3. Glenbard South 40
4. Riverside-Brookfield 28

Algebra 2 Team

1. Fenwick 110
2. Glenbard South 98
3. Hinsdale South 78
4. Riverside Brookfield 52
5. Fenton 26

Pre-Calculus Team

1. Fenwick 96
2. Riverside-Brookfield 54
3. Glenbard South 46
4. Hinsdale South 32
5. Fenton 10

Calculator Team

1. Fenwick 70
2. Hinsdale South 45
3. Glenbard South 35
Riverside-Brookfield 35

8-person Frosh-Soph Team

1. Fenwick 40
2. Glenbard South 35
3. Hinsdale South 30
4. Riverside-Brookfield 25
5. Fenton 5

8-person Junior-Senior Team

1. Fenwick 65
2. Glenbard South 45
3. Hinsdale South 40
4. Riverside-Brookfield 15

STATE FINAL SCORES
(Awards given for top 10)

Overall Team

1. U of Chicago Lab 800
2. Glenbrook North 732
3. Vernon Hills 649
4. Libertyville 629
5. U of Illinois Lab 609
6. Fenwick 541
7. Marist 456
8. Lake Forest 447
9. John Hersey 418
10. Hononegah 418

Friar Individual Awardees

Toby Yang- 1st in Algebra 1
Finley Huggins- 7th in Algebra 2
Logan Maue- 5th in PreCal
Daniel Majcher- 8th in PreCal

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