• The following local students earned degrees during recent commencement exercises at Shenandoah University:
Jihad Alwarith of Vienna earned a doctor of medical science degree and a master of science in physician-assistant studies. Saja Aladham of McLean earned a doctor of pharmacy degree and a master of science degree in pharmacogenomics and personalized medicine. Jordan Arbuckle of Vienna earned a doctor of physical therapy degree. Winnie Chin-Hotraphinyo of Vienna earned a doctor of pharmacy degree.
Susanna Carter of Vienna earned a master of science degree in physician-assistant studies. Kevin Lastova of McLean earned a master of science degree in physician-assistant studies. Catherine Renken of McLean earned a master of science degree in nursing. Teresa Pliuskaitis of Great Falls earned a master of science degree in education.
John Kling of Vienna earned a bachelor of science degree in public health. Sharon Kriz of McLean earned a bachelor of science degree in nursing. Ruby Larimer of McLean earned a bachelor of fine arts degree in acting. Benjamin Podolny earned a bachelor of science degree in criminal justice.
• Jeremy Haress of Vienna earned a bachelor of sciencedegree in public-safety administration; Jack Foley of Dunn Loring earned a bachelor of science ree in finance; and Ali Alhadithi of McLean earned a bachelor of science degree in information systems management during recent commencement exercises at the University of Maryland Global Campus.
• Sophia Bernstein of McLean earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology and Alexandra LeeHoffman of McLean earned a bachelor of arts degree in psychology during recent commencement exercises at Hamilton College.
Bernstein’s thesis was titled “Investigating the Relation Between Self-Esteem and Social Anxiety Disorder: The Role of Emotion Regulation,” while LeeHoffman’s was “How Do Asians Perceive Asian-White Biracials?”
• John Basner of McLean and Matthew Price of Vienna have been named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at the University of Rhode Island.
• Josh Lentz, Anik Saluja, Amelia Swenson, Maria Urban and Alex Woltman of McLean and Ari Klain of Vienna have been named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at Lehigh University.
• Cyrus Hashemi of McLean has been named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at Norwich University.
• Ian Begelman of Vienna and Harrison Whitmore of Vienna have been named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at Middle Tennessee State University.
• John Lande of Vienna has been named to the dean’s list for the sprng semester at the University of Iowa.
• William Payne, the son of Rusty and Virginia Payne of McLean and a graduate of McLean High School, has been named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at Brigham Young University.
• The following local students have been named ot the dean’s list for the spring semester at the College of William and Mary:
– From Dunn Loring: Jayla Ahverdiyeva, Micah Chang, Sanjoli Jain, Angie Maricar, Thomas Sweeney.
– From Great Falls: Madeleine Assaad, Harrison Daley, Ian Ha, George Hage, Caroline Healy, Steven Jia, Devran Johnson, Daniel Kalish, Micah Katahara, Madelyn McGavin, Diego Morandi Zerpa, Julianne Nickles, Kayla Rolph, London Simonides, Aaraj Vij, Andrew Walker, Zoe Wang, Isabella Wu.
– From McLean: Rafa Albolote, Jenna Ashtar, Max Aue, Delaney Bond, Ryan Bond, Tony Bowers, Katie Burns, Christopher Chan, Alice Choe, Sarah Colatriano, Daniel Coughlin, Avin Curtis, Anna Detweiler, James Durney, Elisabeth Eick, Alex Ferentinos, Peter Fox, Atticus Gore, Deena Hamandi, Michael Himy, MV Holler, Grant Hoscheit, Veda Kalidindi, Shayan Khwaja, Ian Kung, Rija Masroor, Sofia Najjar, Sarita ONeill, Mark Rindone, Peter Rizzo, Christina Romano, Maddy Rubin, Sophia Sharma, Himalaya Shrestha, Zoha Siddiqui, Emily Sun, Liliana Suzuki, Nina Talwar, Isabella Tian, Christopher Tillotson, Tomas Torterola, Aly Trumbull, Raj Wasan, Teymur Zavar, Catherine Zavela, Andy Zhang.
– From Oakton: Jimmy Bach, Owen Cassidy, Sophie Cassidy, Andrew Erickson, Molly Estes, Katarina Faben, Avery Gatchel, Cole Granger, Kate Hallbach, Caitlin Hollen, Jack Howell, Alice Ji, Sarah Kenny, Sophia Kwok, Savannah Neuner, Leah Pak, Julia Rashid, Abigail Schwall, Erin Spalding, Aidan Stawasz, Keegan Sweeney, Marcus Tay, Lily Torrans, Elizabeth Upright, Will Vroom, Emma Wagner.
– From Vienna: Anna Allred, Daniel Allred, Ananya Bagai, Spenser Bagdoyan, Greta Beggs, Kate Bellamy, James Bouharoun, Caroline Cha, Mallika Charagundla, Jonathan Chen, Lydia Cheng, Emma Cottle, Diego Cruzado, Tommy Delta, Tobin Doherty, Julia Frazier, Nicole Fritsch, Ashley George, Nitu Girish Mohan, Melinda Goldfedder, Fiona Hodges, Grace Hussey, Mai Ishikawa, Dennis Ivanov, Chris Jiang, Maclaren Johnson, Megan Johnson, Hahn-Sol Kang, Megan Keady, Sarah Kim, Syd Kippelman, Rachel Kwon, Shinjer Li, Christina Luckett, Daniel Lychak, Rachel McCarley, Mary-Shea McDowell, Bennett Meale, Adam Miller, Miko Miwa, Katie Morales, Adriano Moran, Isabella Moutinho, Julianna O’Brien, Claire O’Brien, Tiana Petruccelli, Patrick Pham, Celeste Phillips, Alex Popa, Joey Powell, George Pridotkas, Ethan Qin, Evie Rienzi, Ellen Rowe, Maheen Saeed, Abigail Salzberg, Sonia Samantaroy, Noor Scavotto, Jonathan Scinto, Rohan Shah, Nick Sheft, Pelumi Sholagbade, Abby Shusterman, Megan Sierzega, Lena Smith, Ethan South, Parker Stas, Victoria Stoner, Charles Tang, Brendan Tingley, Patrick Tingley, Katie Tognotti Tallie Uman, Olivia Vanderhart, Michaela Wacht, Drew West, Emma Williams, Olivia Yu, Ted Zhang, David Zhao.
• The following local students are among those named to the dean’s list for the spring semester at James Madison University:
– From Great Falls: Mary-Grace Romano, Haley Mills Quick, Eleanor Smith, Pouya Rarsinejad, Elena Owens, John Bush, Elizabeth West, Olivia Elkas, Sarah Ormond, Zachary Skalaban, Kell Vollmecke, Ethan Addington, Kayla Asgari, Hunter Borcherding, Michael Buckingham, Thalia Eid, Ingrid Larne.
– From McLean: Ashley Wimette, Allison Sullivan, David Gormly, Kendall Smith, Robert Mulligan, Yazeed Salameh, Noah Solomon, Luke Saunders, Cyrus Kaviani, Grace Clukey, Easton McCollough, Alexander Garcia, Jane Gerrard, Jennifer Siryani, Shannon Adams, Kavin Saxena, Emma Privater, Vinay Wasan, Grace Mirabelle, Samantha Leech, William Chapman, Eva Suskind, Lily Hartsock, Amelia Cunha Mendonca, Lauren Danoff, Gabriel Deleonardis, Caledonia Hamilton, Dakota Lawson, Rachel Longo, Bayan Rouhani, Zane Sweidan, David Wehner, Eric Strelser.
– From Tysons: Alexander Barna.
From Vienna: Dorsa Azhandeh, Skyler Christophersen, Declan McNulty, Andrew Roberts, Tate Lemm, Thomas Petersen, Liam McNulty, Chloe Clark, Samuel Bradley, Annaliese Wan, Taylor Arbuckle, Mohamed Hamza Abbassi, Nicole Parks, Peter Korenko, Melanie Chambers, Scout Sullivan-Fielding, Taylor Kotler, Kristin Beach, Grace McConville, Terry Cyrus, Alexis O’Donnell, Andrew Weinstock, Andrew Zarazinski, Grace Cornman, Heather Duenas, William Blackwell, Kevin Lyons, Catherine Kirkhorn, Alya Giavis, Ellen Reed, Carole French, Elizabeth Frazier, Jace Lemm, Esha Maskeri, Julia Kupczak, Sarah Grace, Elizabeth Bryan, Haley Lubeley, Andrew Baker, Kathleen Berry, Zachary Buerkle, Kirsten Carl, Andrew Cramer, Michael Gerber, Anabelle Harrison, Dimitrije Hryshchyshyn, Spencer Lewis, Lyndsey Sheiner, Andrew Thompson, Gabriella Hatch, Kai McCloskey.
•• Kristen Esquivel of McLean has been named to the Pennsylvania State University chapter and Thomas Sellers of Vienna has been inducted into the National Intelligence University chapter of the Phi Kappa Phi collegiate honor society.
• Four students from the GazetteLeader coverage area are among 161 nationally (and just five from Virginia) to be named 2023 U.S. Presidential Scholars.
The White House Commission on Presidential Scholars selects scholars annually based on their academic success, artistic and technical excellence, essays, school evaluations and transcripts, as well as evidence of community service, leadership and demonstrated commitment to high ideals.
Students from the local area include Emma Cox, Mira Iris Kim and Teja Koduru of Thomas Jefferson High School for Science & Technology and Mayra Rios of James Madison High School.
The U.S. Presidential Scholars are comprised of one young man and one young woman from each state, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico, and U.S. families living abroad, as well as 15 chosen at-large, 20 Scholars in the Arts and 20 Scholars in Career and Technical Education.
Of the students expected to graduate from high school this year, more than 5,000 candidates qualified for the 2023 awards determined by outstanding performance on the College Board SAT and ACT exams or through nominations made by state education officials, other partner recognition organizations and the National Foundation for the Advancement of Artists’ nationwide YoungArts competition.
• Three recent graduates of, and a rising senior at, McLean High School ascended to Eagle Scout status during a Court of Honor ceremony held earlier this month.
All are members of Troop 652 at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church in McLean.
The new Eagle Scouts are:
> Hans Ryerson, a new graduate of McLean High School. For his Eagle Scout project, Ryerson designed and led the construction of a 40-foot bridge spanning a creek at the Izaak Walton League Conservation Preserve in Poolesville, Md. He will attend Virginia Military Institute this fall.
> Neal Brady, another new graduate of McLean High. His Eagle Scout project involved the design and construction of a gravel-lined path through the memorial garden at St. Dunstan’s Episcopal Church, the host organization of Troop 652. In the fall, he will attend James Madison University.
> Andrew Mock also graduated from McLean High School this month. For his Eagle Scout project, he organized a crew of volunteers to build picnic benches, which are placed near the football field and tennis courts at McLean High. He will attend Penn State.
> Ian Massidda is a rising senior at McLean High School. For his Eagle Scout project, he organized a group of volunteers to clean the entrance and rebuild the sign at Claremont Immersion Elementary School in Arlington.
