As of March 26, 2024
Congratulations to Brandon Hu '28, who won the 2024 Pre-Collegiate Concerto Competition for his performance on violin. Brandon was also the junior strings alternate/runner-up in the Missouri Music Teachers Association's 2023-2024 state competition.
Congratulations to Sonia Kulkarni '28, who won the Scripps Regional Spelling Bee for the second year in a row and will advance to the national competition in Washington, D.C.
Kudos to Jerry Chang '26, Joshua Lam '27, Lachlan Dorward '28, Sky Jacobson '28, Avi Patel '28, Madeline Reuter '28, Max Tang '28, Andrew Fei '29, and Vedant Maiti '29, for their performance in several recent math competitions (AMC 8, AMC10, and MATHCOUNTS). Max, Sky, Andrew, and Vedant advanced to the state MATHCOUNTS competition, where they placed fourth as a team. Max placed 3rd in Missouri and will compete at Nationals; Sky placed 5th in Missouri and will be the official alternate for Missouri's team at nationals.
Congratulations to the JBS Mock Trial team on their victory in the preliminary round of the Missouri High School Mock Trial Competition, hosted by the Bar Association of Metropolitan St. Louis. Participating students included Emy Caruthers '25, Noah Clark '26, Sarah Ding '25, Teddy Hollander-Bodie '26, Hashim Ilahi '27, Cate Kiley '26, Asha Krishnasamy '25, Anya Liu '24, William Miller '27, Sameera Rao '26, Rafe Rosario-Blake '26, Bharghav Vissa '24, Praveen Vissa '27, and Mena Zarek '27.
Kudos to Jerry Chang '26, one of five finalists selected nationwide in the classical music/piano category by the YoungArts Foundation.
Kudos to Noah Lipe '27, who has won a cellist spot in this year's All-State Orchestra.
Congratulations to Iris Wang '26, who has been named a 2024 Missouri Honorable Mention String Orchestra violinist.
Congratulations to Connor Jenks '28 for his selection to the Metro 8 Middle School Concert Band (trombone).
Kudos to Lylah Ali '24, who placed second in the Candace Freeland Photography Merit Award at The Mitford Museum in Hudson, NC.
Congratulations to Shangri-La Hou '24, one of five students from across the country chosen to represent the Midwest region as part of the National Student Poets Program. Student poets will help oversee workshops, readings and other activities. Previous poets have appeared at the White House and Lincoln Center among other venues.
Congratulations to Sonia Kulkarni '28, who won the regional finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and advanced to the national competition, where she finished 23rd out of 231 competitors.
Congratulations to Will Clarkson '24, Will Duncan '24, and Paul Shuff '24, who finished second in the Missouri high school division of The Stock Market Game, a year-long competitive simulation hosted by The SIFMA Foundation.
Kudos to the following students who have been recognized by the National Charity League for their volunteer efforts. Recipients of the Gold Award for completing more than 250 service hours) include Elizabeth Clarke '23, Rylee Belle McGowan '26, Finley McGowan '28, and Reece McGowan '24. Recipients of the Bronze Award for completing 100-174 service hours include Coco Bland '28, Claire Dillon '24, Addison Grantham '25, Sophie Hagemann '26, Ella Koestner '28, and Naomi Pope '26.
Riley Carter Adams '28 was honored as a Student Emerging Artist by the Arts and Education Council.
Congratulations to Julia Reichman '23, who painting Girl in Color received the Dr. Jerilynn Changar Memorial-Best in Show Award at SIUE's annual high school art exhibition.
Finley Desai '23 was named Scholar-Athlete of the Year by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Congratulations to Lily Yanagimoto '23, whose essay An Elegy for Headquarters received first place in the Friends of the University of Missouri Libraries' 2022-2023 Robert J. Stuckey Essay Contest.
Sonia Kulkarni '28 won the regional finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee and will advance to the national competition in Washington, D.C.
Congratulations to Shangri-La Hou '24, who was named a winner in the Wednesday Club of St. Louis's Junior Poetry Contest for her poem, "Second Migration."
Lily Yanagimoto '23, Frankie Rhodes '23, Kate Teasdale '24, Jane Hooper '26, Summer Levin '24, Isabelle Hawkins '25, Travis Ning '25, and Shawn Edmondson '25 have all had work accepted in the 2023 Emerson Young Artists' Showcase at the St. Louis Artists' Guild.
Congratulations to JRobb Goffstein '23, Julia Reichman '23, Lily Yanagimoto '23, Issac Tung '24, Carolina Sanchez '24, Liv Acree '23, and Camille Smith '23, whose work has been accepted in the 2023 SIUE Annual Juried Regional High School Exhibition.
Max Tang '28 placed 11th overall at the MATHCOUNTS 2023 Chapter Competition, qualifying for the state competition to be held in March 2023.
KUDOS to the 18 students who won an award in the 2023 Missouri Writing Region of the Scholastic Writing Awards Contest: Madeline Buchowski ’23, Clarke Campbell ’23*, Isabel Cepeda ’24, Sarah Ding ’25, Shangri-La Hou ’24*, Sky Jacobson ’28, Anya Liu ’24*, Molly Magarian ’25*, Madison Moore ’25*, Maddie Omran ’25, Aarnavi Paduru ’24, Jayla Pruitt ’26, Nyla Pruitt ’23, Wilson Von Rohr ’24, Vivian Wang ’25*, Livia Willey ’24, Roy Zhu ’28, and Evelyn Ziaee ’24*. Their pieces were selected from hundreds of submissions from throughout Missouri and the Kansas City, Kansas, area, in a variety of categories including journalism, poetry, flash fiction, novel writing, short story, personal essay, critical essay, dramatic script, and humor. Seven Gold Key winners (*) will move on to the national level; winners of a national award will be notified in mid-March.
Congratulations to sisters Gabrielle Moore '25 and Madison Moore '25, whose first-place finish in the Green Generation category at a regional Missouri Science Olympiad competition qualifies them for the state tournament.
Kudos to Jerry Chang '26, who was named a 2023 YoungArts winner in the classical music (piano) category.
John Zarek '24 was named a finalist at the 3rd Annual Bill of Rights Day Webinar and Awards Ceremony, for his submission to a student contest celebrating the importance of the Bill of Rights through art and essays.
Congratulations to Dalton Pace '24, Stephen Thayer '25, Jackson Makepeace '24, Kate Uy '23, and Ellie Skale '23, whose photos were selected for the "Beginnings 2022: Juried High School Photography" exhibition at Webster University's Kooyumjian Gallery. The exhibition opens Friday, December 2.
Kudos to Riley Carter Adams '28, who is being celebrated as an Emerging Student Artist in the 2023 St. Louis Arts Awards. Riley most recently played Paris France Washington in the New Jewish Theatre Company's production of "The Bee Play" at The J's Wool Theatre. An interview with Riley about that play is available here.
Adam Sutter '23 has been selected to serve on the 2022-23 Student Board of Directors for the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. He is one of 18 high school seniors from the metro area, chosen through a competitive application process. Students meet monthly to gain a thorough understanding of the Federal Reserve's role in the U.S. economy and learn about its unique partnerships with banks, businesses, and the community.
Congratulations to Jerry Chang '26, one of 23 scholarship recipients selected by the Chopin Foundation of the United States. The scholarship supports talented young American pianists through up to four years of preparation for the National Chopin Piano Competition of the United States. Jurors described Chang's performance as "powerful yet sensitive, a wonderful sense of poetry." Jerry also traveled to New York City over the summer to participate in the final round of the Kaufman International Music Competition, where he earned second prize in the Junior II Division.
Ryan Hardwick '23 was one of 70 high school students from across the St. Louis region and as far away as Abu Dhabi who spent six weeks learning and conducting supervised scientific research in labs around the region as part of the University of Missouri–St. Louis’ Students and Teachers As Research Scientists program, more commonly known as STARS.
Patrick Bloomquist '23 played on the St. Louis Scott Gallagher 04 elite team that won the Missouri State Cup's 18U division. Patrick's team represented Missouri in the 2022 US Youth Soccer Midwest Regional Championships, in which 13 of the Midwest's top teams competed for a regional championship and a spot at the 2022 US Youth Soccer National Championships. The team made it to the final four before bowing out.
Kudos to Reese Rafferty '26 on making the UA All America Midwest Command Team.
Congratulations to Marina Smallwood (Science), one of nine local teachers selected by Washington University in St. Louis faculty for the Summer Teacher-Researcher Partnership, an initiative from the Institute for School Partnership at Washington University in St. Louis. Marina is working in the Battery Analytical Investigation Lab of Peng Bai, assistant professor of energy, environmental and chemical engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering.
An article and reflection by Jill Donovan (English), "Lessons from the Classroom: Delighting and Abiding with Students," was recently featured on the Independent Ideas blog, which is part of the National Association of Independent Schools website. "The longer I teach and the more turbulent our world becomes, the more I understand the critical importance of abiding with kids, of being a constant and dependable anchor.”
Hats off to Chris Perez '22, who was named a Gates Millennium Scholar — the second in school history.
Congratulations to Teresa Jiang '22 who was recently named a US Presidential Scholar! Teresa joins the 58th class of U.S. Presidential Scholars, recognizing 161 high school seniors for their accomplishments in academics, the arts, and career and technical education fields.
Kudos to Emily Ruben ’25 who passed her Senior Moves in the Field Test making her a US Figure Skating Gold Medalist! Emily is also a member of the Synchronized Skating team which placed 10th in the country in Colorado Springs in the National Championships (scoring high enough to make team USA next year). Additionally, Emily has won several awards from her club, including a special award for becoming a gold medalist, an athlete achievement award for her testing, and the coaches’ synergy good sport award for the Junior Team.
Bravo to Jake Brown '23, who was selected to the 22-man roster for the U18 Men’s Ice Hockey Team for the 21st Maccabiah Games taking place in July 2022 in Israel.
Congratulations to Adam Sutter '23, Amy Weston '23, Caitlyn O'Shea '25, Daniel Greene '24, Davis Engler '22, Eli Front '23, Evan Wang '22, Kate Uy '23, Kelenna Eke-Okoro '23, and Vivienne Lu '22 who made up the team that came in 2nd place in the World Wide Technology (WWT) Hackathon competition. This year the theme was diversity, equity and inclusion and the students designed JBS Access, a website to help community members and visitors with mobility issues to navigate our campus more efficiently, and to improve student access to existing services such as counseling. Fun fact: the team's mentor from WWT was alum Jessie Guth Ripper ‘94.
The Gateway Chess League has recognized some of our students for their outstanding play this season. In the 7th grade competition, Dylan Geiger '27 placed 6th (14th overall) and Ignacio Moyano '27 placed 1st (4th overall). In the high school division, Camden Hosler '25 placed 6th on Board 5, Maaz Chohan '24 tied for 1st on Board 4, Amaan Banga '22 placed 5th on Board 3, Jack Parsons '24 placed 5th on Board 2 and Sam Lu '24 finished 2nd on Board 1.
Ayomide Ajakaiye '25 was offered (and accepted!) the position of co-secretary general of the Model United Nations Impact Global team along with a student from Taipei. She will be managing all leadership teams internationally and will be in direct contact with UN officials to help share the mission of the organization.
The Emerson Young Artists Showcase at The St. Louis Artist' Guild received over 280 entries from area high schools. With 18 works selected, Burroughs has more work represented in the exhibit than any other school. Students selected include: Hayley Edwards ’24 (Love is Everywhere), Lana English ’23 (Self-Portrait (Wire Sculpture)), Anne Grace Hooper ’22 (Not Good Enough and Self Portrait), Meghna Kommu ’22 (Reflections), Katie McMillan ’23 (Owl Bottle), Grace Moore ’22 (Windows), Audrey Pinson ’22 (Untitled (Nothing)), Katharine Pruett ’24 (Stirrup Bottle), Frankie Rhodes ’23 (Self Portrait as Teddy Bear), Adisa Roberts ’22 (No Curfew), Carolina Sanchez ’24 (Tree Branches with Buds), Ryder Scully ’23 (Self-portrait (Room)), Camille Smith ’23 (Self-Portrait (Pink)), Thomas Smith ’25 (Stacked), Lizzie Wagner ’22 (Amphora), Thornton Walker ’22 (Hydria (Water Jar)), Lilly Wang ’23 (Dominance) and Lily Yanagimoto ’23 (Every Flower).
SIUE received nearly 200 entries from 28 regional high schools for their 2022 Annual High School Art Exhibition. Only 50 percent of the works
submitted were selected and included works from 12 Burroughs juniors and seniors: Sara Cao ’22 (Tank Woman), Natalie Caster ’22 (What I See), Lana English ’23 (Dance Cubism), Will Friebel ’22 (Tripod Bottle), Andrew Herbster ’22 (l’artichaut), Anne Grace Hooper ’22 (Not Good Enough), Teresa Jiang ’22 (Decay and Decorum and Identity Crisis), Grace Moore ’22 (Portals), Alethea Morris ’22 (Egg), Julia Reichman ’23 (Antelope Rhyton), Camille Smith ’23 (Black and Brown Cows) and Sydney Starks ’23 (Vase).
Patrick Whiteford '23 won the St. Louis County regional Poetry Out Loud competition and will go on to represent the region at the state competition.
Many students won awards for the Scholastic Writing Contest. Gold Key Award winners were Madeline Buchowski '23 (Poetry), Clarke Campbell '23 (Short Story), Sarah Ding '25 (Poetry), Shangri-La Hou '24 (Poetry), Kalika Ivaturi '22 (Humor), Eva Kappas '22 (Critical Essay), Megan Liu '24 (Flash Fiction, Science Fiction & Fantasy), Deven Shah '26 (Flash Fiction), Udaykiran Vissa '23 (Short Story) and Lillian Yanagimoto '23 (Poetry). Silver Key Award winners were Madeline Buchowski '23 (Poetry, Flash Fiction), Sophie Buchowski '26 (Flash Fiction), Clarke Campbell '23 (Short Story), Sara Cao '22 (Poetry), Owen Front '25 (Poetry), Katie Gelfman '22 (Short Story), Julius Hollander-Bodie '22 (Critical Essay), Kalika Ivaturi '22 (Short Story, Personal Essay & Memoir), Eva Kappas '22 (Journalism, Personal Essay & Memoir, Science Fiction & Fantasy), Anya Liu '24 (Poetry), Molly Magarian '25 (Poetry), Gabrielle Moore '25 (Short Story), Madison Moore '25 (Flash Fiction), Nyla Pruitt '23 (Personal Essay & Memoir), Uma Rayani '23 (Poetry), Jacob Tuteur (Short Story), Patrick Whiteford '23 (Flash Fiction), Lillian Yanagimoto '23 (Poetry, Short Story, Personal Essay & Memoir) and Mae Zipfel '23 (Critical Essay).
Burroughs was named a recipient of the College Board's AP Computer Science Female Diversity Award which is given to schools that demonstrably increase female engagement in the AP Computer Science curriculum. Only 199 schools—public and private—were awarded the honor, and Burroughs is the only school in Missouri.
The 2020-2021 editions of The Review and Works in Progress earned First Place with Special Merit and Julia Reichman '23 won an award for Most Outstanding Art from The American Scholastic Press Association.
Isabel Cepeda ‘24 will perform the lead role (Clara) in The Nutcracker, presented by St. Louis Ballet at The Touhill Performing Arts Center, Thanksgiving weekend and December 17-23.
Seven seniors will participate in their sport at the collegiate level - Division I. On the National Signing Day on November 10, five seniors signed letters of intent, and next month, two football players will do the same. These student-athletes are: Steven Busch (swimming at University of South Carolina), Tyson Ford (football at the University of Notre Dame), Cooper Hyken (track & field at Bucknell), Caleb Merritt (football at the University of Wyoming), Molly O'Brien (track & field at Davidson), Vanessa Polk (volleyball at Pepperdine University) and Grace Pottebaum (field hockey at University of North Carolina).
Julius Hollander-Bodie '22 (flute), Miko Kim '25 (oboe) and Sruthi Dommaraju '23 (percussion) for being chosen to perform with the St. Louis Metro 8 Honor Band! They are now eligible to audition for the All State Band!
Graham Engler '24 has advanced to the National Round of the German Olympiad (Chicago) to compete for a spot to represent our country on the international level (Hamburg). He out-performed more than 400 kids from 30 States and is among the eight best German speakers in his age-level group in the U.S.
Andy Chen (English) recently had poems published in December literary magazine. He will read at "december in November" at 5 pm on November 15 at the Contemporary Art Museum-St. Louis. Find full details here.
Lily Yanagimoto '23 was named as a commended poet by the Poetry Society's 2021 Foyle Young Poet of the Year Award. This year they received 15,000 poems and they recognized 100.
In early October, Emily Kantrovitz ‘22 received the Missouri Valley St. Louis Female Player of the Year Award. Read more here.
Niko Theodos '22 was selected as a member of the 2021 USA Swimming Scholastic All-American Team. Niko qualified in the 800m free event and will compete at Winter Junior Nationals in Austin, Texas this December. Niko also qualified for and will compete in the Men's 5K race in the USA Swimming Open Water Nationals Meet in the Spring of 2022 in Fort Myers Beach, Florida. Niko is one of 646 boys selected nationally for the 2021 USA Swimming Scholastic All-American Team.
Vanessa Polk '22 was featured in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on September 22, in a story about the girls volleyball team. "Her most eye-popping play came on the defensive end when she muscled a free ball over the net on the third hit from behind the service line. Despite facing the opposite direction, she drilled the ball over the net with a nifty two-handed move. "She does stuff like that all the time—to us, it's no big deal," Clark said. "You see her do something and you think, 'Wow.' But after a while, it's just normal." Read the article here.
Thirteen students were recognized in a special event on September 19, where they received Presidential Volunteer Service Awards for their outstanding service work in 2020. Gold recipients (volunteers age 11-15 with more than 100 hours of service and volunteers age 16-25 with more than 250 hours of service) were Elizabeth Clarke '23 and Sophia Park '22; silver recipients (volunteers age 11-15 with between 75-99 hours of service and volunteers age 16-25 with between 175-249 hours of service) were Estelle Ballet '23 and Claire Dillon '24; and bronze recipients (volunteers age 11-15 with between 50-74 hours of service and volunteers age 16-25 with between 100-174 hours of service) were Olivia Ballet '23, Cece Fernandez '23, Addison Grantham '25, Marin Guthrie '22, Olivia Lu '26, Reece McGowan '24, Rylee McGowan '26, Lauren Ruth '25 and Mia Schlottmann '25.
Mawdo Diallo '25, along with his teammate Jahden (from Parkway), won the National Kappa League Debate Competition this summer. Mawdo and Jahden were the youngest team and competed against teams from New Jersey and Atlanta. The final round was against the DC team where they debated the Georgia Senate Bill 202. Kappa League is a youth mentoring program sponsored by Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc.
Kim Bouldin-Jones (Counseling & Wellness) was selected as Webster University’s 2021 Loretto (Service) Award recipient. This award is presented annually to an alum who has given significantly of herself or himself in service to humanity and social justice. Read more here.
Meghna Kommu '22 and Varun Kommu '23 completed summer internships at Washington University, working on research in the field of nanotechnology in medical applications. In this study, they aimed to control the dimension of gold nanorods by carefully controlling the temperature of gold seed synthesis solution, concluding there is a significant effect on gold nanorod dimensions when the temperature is changed during the seed synthesis — a significant finding with implications for the use of gold nanoparticles in emerging medical fields such as biosensing and immunotherapy.
Jerry Chang '26 was featured as part of NPR's Tiny Desk Concert series on June 30, 2021: "Seventh-grader Jerry Chang, clad in his comfy exercise shorts, closes this cross-country Tiny Desk from home, playing Schubert's G-flat major Impromptu like someone twice his age. The gentle, rippling effects he gets from his still-growing 13-year-old hands, and the way he makes Schubert's wistful melody sing, is astonishing." Listen here.
Kennedy Holmes ‘23 sang the national anthem to kick off the U.S. Olympic Trials for Gymnastics in St. Louis.
In its 2021 All Metro Awards, St. Louis Post-Dispatch named Akash Rajan '21 and Rory Sutter '21 to the 2021 All-Metro Boys Tennis 1st Team; for All-Metro Girls Lacrosse honors, the paper named Riley King '21 (1st Team), Grace Pottebaum '22 (2nd Team), Ava Goldson '24 (2nd Team). Xavier Silva '21 was named 3rd team for All Metro Boys Lacrosse; and Aaliyah Elliott '24, who was named to the 2nd team for Girls Track and Field. Read more here.
On June 18, Emi Pope '21 and John Gates '21 represented JBS as selections to the Missouri Athletic Club High School Senior All-Star Games at Worldwide Technology Park in Fenton.
Riley King ‘21 was named the St. Louis Post-Dispatch Metro Conference player of the year, scoring 73 goals, averaging 4.8 ground balls per game and causing 49 turnovers, and earning all-American and all-state honors.
Graham Brown ‘21, Teddy Dunaway ‘21, Xavier Silva ‘21, and Parker Williams ‘21 represented JBS in the Senior All-Star lacrosse game on June 10.
Ella Merritt '24 was one of 25 students in the St. Louis area accepted into the Missouri History Society's "Teens Make History" Academy, which helps teens develop professional skills, build confidence, cultivate relationships & explore the complexities of history.
On June 9, Madeline Dornfield '21 was named athlete of the week by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch: "A senior midfielder, Dornfeld played a key role in leading the Bombers to the Class 1 state championship. In a 3-2 win in penalty kicks over St. Michael the Archangel in the title game, Dornfeld broke a 1-1 tie on a goal from long range with 2:51 seconds left in the second half. In a 4-0 semifinal win over New Covenant Academy, Dornfeld and Simran LaBore scored and assisted on each other’s goals in the early stages of the second half. Dornfeld, who finished the season with 14 goals and seven assists, was a first-team all-conference selection in soccer and played for the Burroughs field hockey team that finished as the Midwest Tournament runner-up.
Several JBS students were recognized as part of the 2021 National Latin Exam scholars program. In the Advanced Latin Reading Comprehension category: Nathaniel Doty '21, Gold Summa Cum Laude; Samuel Wang '21, Gold Summa Cum Laude; and Katie Holekamp '21, Silver Maxima Cum Laude. In the Advanced Latin Prose category: Yara Levin '22, Gold Summa Cum Laude; Arushi Katyal '22, Gold Summa Cum Laude; Julius Hollander-Bodie '22, Silver Maxima Cum Laude; Ethan Jick '22, Silver Maxima Cum Laude; Eliot Barnes '22, Magna Cum Laude; Teddy Gillanders '22, Cum Laude; and Niko Theodos '22, Cum Laude. In the Intermediate Latin Reading Comprehension category: Maddy Pass '23, Gold Summa Cum Laude; Grant Dahl '23, Gold Summa Cum Laude; Annie Gill '22, Silver Maxima Cum Laude; Jacob Tuteur '23, Silver Maxima Cum Laude; and Uma Rayani '23, Magna Cum Laude.
Katie Xu '21 was quoted in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch in a story about racism against Asian Americans, as well as activism aimed to stop it: "Katie Xu, a senior at John Burroughs School, is part of the Asian American Civic Scholars, a group that advocates for more Asian American participation in civic life. She said some of her peers used to be hesitant about sharing their experiences because they would say 'it felt less significant than the other forms of discrimination that other groups face.' The past year changed that attitude. 'People my age are speaking out a lot more than I have seen in the past,' she said." Read the article in its entirety here.
Several Burroughs students were recognized for outstanding work in the fine arts. Cecilia Gossow '21, Ritvik Kumar '21, Rishu Kumar '21, Audrey Pinson '21, Emma Sock '21, Zoe Scully '21, Katie Whiteford '21 and Katie Xu '21 had work accepted into the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville High School Juried Art Exhibition, an annual juried exhibit organized by the department of art and design at SIU-E that recognizes outstanding work made by high school students in the St. Louis metro area. Vanessa Polk '22 and Teresa Jiang '22 had work recognized by the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, the nation’s longest-running, most prestigious recognition initiative for high school artists and writers, and the largest source of scholarships for creative teens. Sahara Asher '24, Ella Galvin '22, Maggie Gosnell '24, Cecilia Gossow '21, Claire Harkins '21, Teresa Jiang '22, Eva Kappas '22, Vanessa Polk '22, Zoe Scully '21, Xavier Silva '21, Emma Sock '21, Holly Wei '21 and Katie Xu '21 all had work featured in the St Louis Artists' Guild Emerson Young Artists Exhibition, a juried, all-media exhibition of artwork created by high school students between 15 and 19 years old residing within 150 miles of the St. Louis Artists’ Guild. For more details and links to virtual exhibits of the work, visit our news page.
Riley King '21 was named by the St. Louis Post-Dispatch as one of its lacrosse players to watch: "Potted 72 goals and placed seventh in the area with 92 points as a sophomore in 2019, earning all-state honors. King scored a career-high 11 goals in her first game this season, and her knack for producing in crunch time will be key for a John Burroughs team that had 10 of its 17 games decided by two goals or fewer in 2019."
Eli Front ’23, Vivienne Lu ’22, AnnMarie O'Shea ’21, Andrew Wang ’21, Tracy Xue ’21 and Ali Zolman ’21 participated in a hackathon run by World Wide Technology. The team built a user interface for iOS, Android, and browser-based applications that assist in contact tracing and self-reporting of positive COVID diagnoses. The contract tracing portion of the app requires the use of a Google/Apple API that will use low-energy Bluetooth to automatically generate a list of close contacts and then save those close contacts on a dedicated server. The team made a video presentation before a panel of judges, earning second place and a grant of $5000.
In a recent article in Ladue News, senior Udonne Eke-Okoro '21 describes some of the difficulties she and others experienced as they applied to colleges during a pandemic.
Julius Hollander-Bodie ’22 (flute) and Evan Wang ’21 (French horn), have been chosen by virtual audition to perform with the Metro District 8 Honor Band.
In its annual contest/review for student publications, the American Scholastic Press Association awarded the 2019-2020 issue of The Review , co-edited by Ann Zhang '20 and Adina Cazacu-De Luca '20, with First Place with Special Merit in the Junior/Senior High (500-1000 students) category, and "Most Outstanding" among all Junior/Senior High publications.
This year's Scholastic Arts & Writing Award winners in literary categories include Kendall Allen ’21 (Personal Essay & Memoir); Lucas Bernstein ’21 (Dramatic Script); Sophia Brown ’24 (Short Story); Madeline Buchowski ’23 (Poetry); Sara Cao ’22 (Poetry); Sarah Ding ’25 (Personal Essay & Memoir); Sruthi Dommaraju ’23 (Poetry); Owen Front ’25 (Poetry); Claire Harkins ’21 (Short Story, Flash Fiction); Julius Hollander-Bodie ’22 (Critical Essay); Lauren Inazu ’25 (Humor); Teresa Jiang ’21 (Poetry, Dramatic Script, Personal Essay & Memoir); Eva Kappas ’22 (Poetry, Critical Essay, Short Story); Story Kummer ’25 (Poetry); Anya Liu ’24 (Personal Essay & Memoir); Molly Magarian ’25 (Novel Writing); Ria Mirchandani ’22 (Short Story); Grace Moore ’22 (Short Story); Emi Pope ’21 (Poetry); Isabel Saccone ’22 (Humor); Brice Shearburn ’23 (Poetry); Alina Tekwani ’22 (Personal Essay & Memoir) and Kimberly Zhang ’24 (Flash Fiction).
Liam Taylor '22 took first place in JBS's Poetry Out Loud competition; Meghna Kommu '22 took second and Maddy Pass '23 took third. Liam will go on to compete at the regional competition, which will be virtual this year.
Yara Levin '22 was quoted in a January 20 Forbes article about the US reviving support for the World Health Organization: " I'm really excited to see my country's government hit the ground running by re-entering and strengthening global partnerships. I truly believe in sustainable development goals, and we need international cooperation and global solidarity to make it happen. I’m also encouraged to see signals that as Americans, we're going to work with other countries while we also pass major legislation targeting climate change, poverty, and racism at home."
Leyla Fern King '21 is a featured storyteller for the 63106 Project, an initiative of Before Ferguson Beyond Ferguson, a nonprofit racial equity storytelling project. Her work chronicling the experiences of essential worker Misha Martin appeared in the St. Louis American and the St. Louis Jewish Light.
Madeline Buchowski ’23 (cello), Sammie Lee ’22 (double bass), Andy Zhang ’22 (viola) and Adam Zhao ’21 (cello) have been named to the Virtual 2021 Missouri Music Educators All-State Orchestra.
During assembly on Friday, January 8, AD Peter Tasker congratulated student-athletes who have been honored by the press and various league organizations for their performance in fall sports. Watch the Fall Sports Awards assembly video and see the full list of student-athletes here.
Kennedy Holmes '23 performed in "A New Holiday," a musical that debuted on PBS on Monday, December 21. Locally produced by musician Brian Owens, the 33-minute film also featured actors Riley Adams, Wynton Marsalis, Sophia Stephens and Anita Jackson, with a score by Grammy Award winners Bebe Winans, Karen Clark-Sheard and saxophonist David Sanborn.
In the December 18 edition of Ladue News, Sara Cao '22 published a review of Yowshien Kuo's Western Venom, currently on view at the Contemporary Art Museum-St. Louis.
On December 17, swim team members Steven Busch '22 and Nick Theodos '22 received St. Louis Post-Dispatch All-Metro recognition as part of the third team. Steven placed third in the 200-yard freestyle and fourth in the 100 butterfly. He also competed as part of the 200 free relay team that finished third, and the 400 free relay team that finished seventh. Nick earned four medals at the Class 1 state meet, finished second in the 500-yard freestyle, and fourth in the 200 individual medley. He was also part of the 200- and 400-free relay teams.
On December 11, Anna Duncan '21, Riley King '21, Grace Pottebaum '22, Esther Pottebaum '23, Kate Smith '21 and Ellie Strahorn '22 received St. Louis Post-Dispatch All-Metro honors for their 2020 field hockey campaigns.
Lily Walther '21 was named St. Louis Post-Dispatch All-Metro girls tennis player of the year for the second consecutive year—read the article here. In addition, Ainsley Heidbreder '21, Sahana Madala '24, and Nina Zhu '21 earned All Area Team recognitions.
Sahara Asher '24 and Cecilia Gossow '21 have photographs included in Webster University's Beginnings 2020: The High School Photography Exhibition. Three Webster University photography faculty selected 106 images from 307 submitted by 161 students. You can view the exhibit online through January 22, 2021.
Allison Roberts (Fine Arts) has two moving image works currently on exhibit at CICA Museum in Seoul, S. Korea as one of the featured artists in the Contemporary Landscape 2020 exhibition (December 9-27). In January, one piece, "Naming, Not Knowing," will be exhibited at Target Gallery in the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, Virgina as part of the Movements, Moments exhibition, which runs January 23 through March 7, 2021.
Nicole Randall (Math) was mentioned in an article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about her former student, Mackenzie Fierceton, who was named as a 2021 Rhodes Scholar. Fierceton, who grew up in several foster homes, commented that she had teachers who supported her and served as parental figures to her, including Randall, who she affectionately referred to as her "Momvisor."
Andy Chen (English) has poems forthcoming in the Fall/Winter 2020 issue of St. Louis literary journal december as well as the Winter 2021-22 issue of Ploughshares.
Ria Mirchandani '22 was honored with an NCWIT Aspirations in Computing (AiC) award. Recipients are selected based on their aptitude and aspirations in technology and computing, as demonstrated by their computing experience, computing-related activities, leadership experience, tenacity in the face of barriers to access, and plans for post-secondary education.
Alexa Sagel '26 was featured in the St. Louis Jewish Light on November 11 in a story about her bat mitzvah service as well as her mitzvah project at Central West End Farm, where she helped raise crops this summer to alleviate food insecurity during the pandemic.
Vanessa Polk '22 was unanimously selected as Player of the Year by Metro League volleyball coaches in early November. As team captain during an abbreviated 13-match season, she led her teammates to win the District Tournament, and the team advanced to the Class 3 State Quarterfinals for the first time in school history.
On November 10, Devin Datta '26 received first place in the Missouri Music Teachers Association (MMTA) State Final Piano Competition in the 7th grade category. He performed Rachmaninoff's Elegie in E flat minor and Beethoven's Sonata in A major.
An essay by Isa Rosario-Blake '21, "Partition in 1947," will be published in the Winter 2020 edition of The Concord Review, a journal for high school-level history research and writing.
On November 4, the girls varsity cross-country team won its first State championship in JBS history by 30 points, and three team members got All State: Kylie Goldfarb ’21 second, Cori Spetnagel ’22 10th, and Ella Nichols ’23 18th.
The boys varsity cross-country team came in fourth at State, and Nathaniel Doty ’21 was recognized on social media and within traditional media for his sportsmanship when he stopped running to help a fallen competitor make it across the finish line.
The girls varsity tennis team won its third consecutive state championship on On October 24. Lily Walther ’21 took first in singles, and Ainsley Heidbreder ’21 and Sahana Madala ’24 placed second in doubles.
On October 23, Kim Bouldin-Jones (Counseling & Wellness) was featured in the St. Louis Business Journal as a "Hometown Hero." The article tells the story of how she and her daughter raised money for car repairs for a struggling Ferguson resident they met this summer while during community cleanups after a protest.
On October 23, Ladue News featured an article written by Sara Cao '22 describing Burroughs' initiatives around DEI and the work of Daniel Harris, the school's director of DEI.
Udonne Eke-Okoro '21 and Daniel Martin '21 have been designated College Board National Recognition Program Scholars. The College Board National Recognition Programs grant students academic honors that can be included on college applications. Colleges use these honors to identify students from underrepresented groups who have excelled on their PSAT/NMSQT and in their classrooms.
Twenty-eight seniors in the Class of 2021 have been named National Merit Semifinalists: Kendall Allen, Josh Antony, Will DePlanty, Kathleen Dobbs, Nathaniel Doty, Anna Duncan, Ainsley Heidbreder, Eleanor Hohenberg, Rahul Jasti, Tamar Kreitman, Rishu Kumar, Ritvik Kumar, Megan Li, Josh Magare, Daniel Martin, AnnMarie O'Shea, Andrew Padousis, Emi Pope, Akash Rajan, Kaitlyn Rowbottom, Emma Sock, Michael Tu, Lily Walther, Andrew Wang, Samuel Wang, Holly Wei, Katie Xu and Adam Zhao. In addition, 11 students received commendations: John Abbott, Lucas Bernstein, Graham Brown, Reilly Dillion, Sam Ilivicky, Ava Kennard, Meredith Luhmann, Sandy McMillan, Eric Sauter, Zoe Scully and Ali Zolman. Udonne Eke-Okoro and Daniel Martin were designated College Board National Recognition Program Scholars.
On September 14, Anita Hagerman (English) performed on the bass with the Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra of St. Louis as part of an outdoor, socially distanced "Symphony Reboot" concert — the first in-person classical music concert in the metro area since March. Led by former SLSO conductor Leonard Slatkin and Scott Schoonover of Union Avenue Opera, the concert featured Grammy award-winning mezzo-soprano Christine Brewer and Bjorn Rannheim, cellist with the St. Louis Symphony. You can watch the performance here.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch named Anna Duncan '21 to its "Field Hockey Players to Watch" on August 25: "Duncan tied for tops in the area with 13 solo shutouts, including a 12-save masterpiece against eventual champion MICDS. Her .63 goals against average also tied for the area best, and her .884 save percentage placed fourth as she backstopped John Burroughs to a 15-3-1 season and a trip to the Midwest Tournament semifinal round."
This summer, Ritvik Kumar '21 and Rishav Kumar '21 participated in the Student Enhancement in Earth and Space Science (SEES) summer internship program. SEES is hosted by The University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Space Research, and sponsored by NASA’s Texas Space Grant Consortium. During the internship, students work with scientists and engineers to conduct authentic research using NASA data and analysis tools. Ritvik was part of the COVID-19 Space Exploration for a Better World team, which researched how to properly sanitize spacecraft, assess viral health risks, and use microgravity to study the spread of COVID-10 and to create vaccine. Rishav worked with the COVID-19 COVID-19 Sustainability team, which focused on solving the impact of COVID-19 through sustainable cities, transportation and mobility, vaccine distribution, new technologies, and access to clean water and air.
Tyson Ford '22 (#88) and Caleb Merritt '22 (#2) were named to 247sports.com's 2022 Top Football Recruits in Missouri list.