Led by Young's perfect score, Bethel Park students earn top honors on national French exam

Bethel Park High School French students earned 31 awards on the 91st annual Le Grand Concours, the National French Exam sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French.

Sophomore Mia Young achieved a perfect score on the French II exam, earning a platinum medal and ranking first nationally in her division. Young is the first Bethel Park student to achieve a perfect score in the district's 35 years of tracking exam results. She was among more than 46,000 elementary, middle, and high school students from all 50 states who competed in the 2026 exam.

The 60-minute test consists of multiple-choice grammar and vocabulary questions plus a listening section.

Bethel Park students earned one platinum, three silver, and five bronze medals. An additional 22 students received honorable mention for scoring in the 50th-74th percentiles.

French V results: Grace Perdziola earned a bronze medal with an 81st percentile score. Honorable mentions went to Timothy Burt, Ava Cerro, Harley Dale, Lucy Martin-Farmer, and Caroline Zelt.

French IV results: Hans Greefkes earned a silver medal with an 87th-percentile score. Honorable mentions went to Maura Blum, Hasini Chava, Salome Ferreyra, Aida Fleck, Addyson Markwood, and Lyla Paull.

French III results: Ciera Erbrecht earned a silver medal with a score in the 90th percentile. Ava Friday and Andrea Solorzano earned bronze medals with 83rd percentile scores. Honorable mentions went to Grant Gealey, Ryan Krappweis, Presley Thimons, and Ellis Stearman.

French II results: Young earned the platinum medal with a score in the 100th percentile. Addison Will earned a silver medal with a score in the 90th percentile. Phoebe Willis and Andrew Kucharik earned bronze medals with 81st- and 77th-percentile scores, respectively. Honorable mentions went to Justin Hughes, Rylee Gorman, Charlotte Glisan, Alexander Fleming, Vincent Cavagnaro, Nicholas Burt, and Jackson Tena.

Nationally, 11,467 students took the Level 2 exam with an average score of 51.17; 8,741 took Level 3 (37.37 average); 4,764 took Level 4 (36.12 average); and 1,652 took Level 5 (37.99 average).