Uni Latin students continued their tradition of excellence with strong performances this spring in the Illinois Latin Contest and the National Latin Exam. Six students advanced to the state finals of the Illinois contest; two of them placed at state. Nine students, meanwhile, won gold medals as the top scorers in the national exam.

Senior Isaac Chambers won the Student of the Year Award at Tuesday's annual ceremony. Other award winners announced for the first time included seniors Adam Tiouririne, Daniel Borup, and Natsuki Nakamura. Check inside for more about these and other honorees.

Seniors Rachel Skoza and Malcolm Taylor were named Female and Male Athletes of the Year Tuesday night at the spring athletic awards ceremony in Uni Gym. Also honored were seniors Daniel Borup and Adam Tiouririne, and many IHSA and East Central Illinois Conference scholar athletes. Check inside for details.

Daneiel Borup received his latest accolade Sunday from the Chicago Tribune. The paper announced that Borup was one of 70 regional finalists for the 24th annual Tribune All-State Academic Team. Although he was not one of the 10 students selected to be on the team, Borup and the other regional finalists were featured in an accompnaying article titled "The class from across the state."

Uni now has two IHSA state champion teams this year. Chess set the standard in February with a state title. On Friday, journalism followed suit. Led by Chris Yoder's first-place finish in sports writing, a Uni squad composed of yearbook and Online Gargoyle staff members won the IHSA journalism championship at Eastern Illinois University.

Despite facing schools up to eight times its size, Uni placed seventh in Division 3AA at the Illinois Council of Teachers of Mathematics state finals held Saturday. Defending champion Vernon Hills won the state title with 725 points. Uni finished with 567 points. Fifty-six schools competed in 3AA, which is for schools with enrollments of 1,000 to 1,999 students in grades 9-12.

This year's Illinois Principals Association Award recognized two seniors, Isaac Chambers and Caroline Brown, as exemplary Uni students. Assistant Director Susan Kovacs chose the winners based on a variety of criteria, including grades, extracurriculars, and involvement in community activities.

Impressing a panel of judges that included writer Garrison Keillor and actress Tyne Daly, senior Kareem Sayegh placed third at the Poetry Out Loud national finals Tuesday night. Sayegh won a $5,000 scholarship for himself and a $500 stipend for Uni High, which the school will use to buy poetry books.

Daniel Borup, Isaac Chambers, and Natsuki Nakamura have been chosen to represent Uni High at the annual Noon Kiwanis Club Luncheon. Uni's scholarship/awards faculty committee chose the students for their academic and extracurricular achievements. They and students from other C-U area schools will be honored May 14 at the Hawthorn Suites in Champaign.

For the third straight year, WCIA's annual "Best of Class" series of one-minute TV spots will allow schools to submit the names of all the students with the highest GPA in their class. This year, Uni has submitted the names of six seniors to be honored by WCIA. Check inside to see which Uni students will be on TV come graduation time.

All Uni students are invited to enter the fourth annual Iris Chang and Peter Kolodziej Writing Awards competition. The contest will honor both fiction and nonfiction writing. A $100 check, a book prize, and a plaque will be awarded to the winner in each category. The contest is open to all Uni students, subfreshmen through seniors. The deadline is 4 p.m. Monday, May 4.

Senior Kareem Sayegh's ability to recite poetry earned him a $1,000 college scholarship on Monday, and he's still in the running for an even bigger prize: $20,000. Sayegh is one of 12 students out of 53 state champions who made the cut to compete in today's Poetry Out Loud national finals at the Lisner Auditorium in Washington, D.C.

ExploraVision team members Isaac Chambers, Tej Chajed, Daniel Cheng, and Danny Ge won first place in the international science competition. Each team member will receive a U.S. Savings Bond worth $10,000 at maturity. The students found out the good news today.

Seniors Greg Atherton and Daniel Borup have advanced to the final round of the U.S. Presidential Scholars Program, one of the most prestigious competitions for high school seniors. They are among only 561 students to be selected as semifinalists. In May, 141 Presidential Scholars will be named.

Sophomore Eleni Yannelis and English teacher Adele Mazurek-Suslick will have to make a few changes to their summer vacation plans, but they're not complaining. They found out today that they will spend a week in Europe on a study tour. Yannelis won first prize in the European Union Center's Illinois high school essay contest.