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College Signing Day/The Senior Celebration

6/7/2026

 
College Signing Day/The Senior Celebration was a big hit with the Class of 2026!

One of our counselors, Ms. Marcus, organized the celebration. It started with the "Senior Strut" where the 6th grade lined the second floor hallway and the seniors, wearing their college shirts, strutted by to cheers and high fives!

The Class of 2026 then went to the patio for some speeches, college shout outs, food, a photo booth, and time with friends. The counselors hope the seniors know we're so proud of them as they take the next step forward in their educational journey.

Please follow this link for photos from the event.

Thanks to everyone who pitched in to help, and to the HSA for funding the event!

National French Exam Results

5/16/2026

 
Bonjour from the Masterman French Department!

This year, many students in 8th, 9th, and 10th grade earned recognition in the Grand Concours National French Contest! 


8th Grade:
Médaille d’Argent 🥈 - Ben Desmarais, Anna Feiro, Andria Zheng
Médaille de Bronze 🥉 - Zoe Kavanaugh
Mention Honorable ⭐️ - Leanne Leonard, Olivia Zhang, Roy Chen, Zachary Downes, Charlotte Elder, Agnes Kamara, Gillian Miller-Greenwalt, John Orefice, Anna Pacowski, Abigail Wolfgang

9th Grade:
Médaille d’Or 🥇 - Kenning Kapur
Médaille d’Argent 🥈 - Alouette Bergeland, Ariel Herman, Alianny Zapata
Médaille de Bronze 🥉 - Esther Peña Rondon
Mention Honorable ⭐️ - Sofi Gonzalez-Leal, Kayden McClain, Julian Villafane

10th Grade:
Platine ! 🏅 (Platinum - 100% correct) - Grace O’Connell and Aidan Maier
Médaille d’Or 🥇 - Eliana Kelberg-Gross, Mose Albert, Olivia Snyder, Emma Solomon, Alison Samuel, Luca Vitiello, Clarity Kapur
Médaille d’Argent 🥈 - Gary Jaffe, Laney Grubb, Georgia Smith, Farukh Baykhanov, Griffin Batchis, Mariah Flores, Charlotte O'Connell, Olivia Liao, Alec Santoro, Tessa Johansson
Médaille de Bronze 🥉 - Thomas Ehri, Annabelle Kuster, Kyle Luong, Bintou Gamby, Gabriella Schuster, Clarissa Kraines, Jonathan Bounchanavong, Aaryan Gada, Grace Gallagher
Mention Honorable ⭐️ - Terence Lynch-Alexander, Stephen Polito, Shwe Tun, Lee Eggerts, Steven Misko, Alexander Wu, Kezia George, Iris Matkowski, Tatiana Korotinsky, Elijah Marshall, Chloe Banks, Annabelle Kuster, Jeremy Kane, Marika Bowen, Austin Zhang, Sanvi Amin, Vincent Manzi, Shahrazad Saouid, Yubin Liang

Congratulations to all of these students on their achievement!

6th graders win the Art of Math Challenge at the Barnes

5/10/2026

 
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A group of the 6th graders won the Art of Math Challenge at the Barnes on May 3! For the competition, students in grades 1–12 take on the Art of Math Challenge in teams of three or more. Each submission consists of a 3D model of one of three selected artworks from the Barnes collection and a written statement

The original work  our students replicated (Unidentified Artist, Canal and Houses) can be found here.

Students Mira Benaforado, Corinne Gazda, Hannah McClung, Cecily Miller, and Ruthie Sarnoski made Masterman proud through their hard work, creativity, and applied math applications...taking home the prize for Grades 5-6. The contest included school groups from around the tri-state area. Good work Team Masterman! 

Their write-up on the piece is below:

Mathematics and creativity played a significant role in bringing the painting to life. The box we found was originally larger than the required size so we cut the sides down. The final box dimensions were 11 1⁄2 by 12 1⁄3 by 11 inches.When we uploaded the painting to the document, it became 15.5 cm by 11 cm. After measuring some of the items in the painting, we decided that multiplying the measurements by 3 for each object would be the best scale. We then assigned jobs in the group for maximum efficiency, though we all assisted each other. All teammates took notes on the dimensions of pieces throughout the constructing of the model. The first thing we did after that was sketching out where in the box everything would go so we can understand the placement of the objects, and what dimensions they needed to be. Next, we went through many material options, before settling on the most cost and energy efficient materials. Then, we started building. To make the trees, our team cut twigs to the correct size, which we determined by multiplying the original height of about 2⁄3 inches by 3. For the buildings, we scaled them to be a range from 2 to 11 inches in height. We painted the background and canal, and started assembling. When we hot glued all the pieces to the box, we had our final product: Canal and Houses model. After lots of hard work and collaboration, we were finished. This took a lot of team work and art supplies, but it was an amazing experience.

WINNERS: Best Creative Math Strategy for Unidentified artist. Canal and House
  • Grades 2-4: Penn Wynne Elementary School — Creative Bears, Grade 4
  • Grades 5-6: Julia R Masterman — 6th Grade Art of Math Masterman, Grade 6
  • Grades 7-11 Strath Haven Middle School — Team Oranges 2.0, Grade 8

We would also like to send congrats to our 7th and 8th grade teams, who also completed amazing projects! 

Lindback Winner: Ms. Stevens

5/10/2026

 
Congratulations to Mary Ellen Stevens from Masterman's Math department for receiving a 2026 Lindback Award!

Recipients from across the school district are chosen based on their activities that improve the intellectual and character development of students, and are nominated by members of the community.



National History Day Team Shines at State Competition

5/3/2026

 
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Congratulations to Masterman's National History Day team! We are proud of their strong research
and beautiful projects! The 19 person academic team competed at NHD States at the University of
Scranton this weekend.

Our results were the following:
First place Group Performance: Leila Golzari-Hunt, N'Yahme Joslyn, Olivia Kang, Eliana
Kelberg-Gross, Sophia Plastaras

One Voice, One America: How Marian Anderson’s Lincoln Memorial Performance Set a Precedent for
Reform


Second place Group Documentary: Eoin Daly, Owen Kuster, Corinne Xu
From “Miniature Adults” to Pediatric Patients: How the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
Revolutionized and Reformed American Pediatric Healthcare


4th place Individual Performance: Halimah Fasasi
“All the Women Are White, All the Blacks Are Men, But Some of Us Are Brave”: How the Combahee
River Collective Revolutionized Black Feminism


4th place Group Website: Haley Lau and Tania Wasim
Virginia Alexander: American Pioneer of Racial Justice and Public Health

6th place Individual Exhibit: Mason Seder
“We Didn’t Have Nothing to Lose”: How the Sonderkommando Revolt Defined Resistance in
Reaction to the Atrocities of the Holocaust

​
The first and second place projects have qualified to compete at Nationals in June!

Ms. Aubry's Photography Exhibiting at the Philadelphia Sketch Club

4/19/2026

 
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Ms. Aubry's film photography was selected for an upcoming exhibition, "Absolutely Abstract" at the Philadelphia Sketch Club. Two double exposed 35mm photos were chosen, which is a technique she has shown her 11th grade photography class.

The show is running in the Upstairs Gallery: May 3 – May 31, 2026 and the Reception: Sunday, May 17th, 2026; 1 – 3 PM located at 235 South Camac Street.

Her artist statement from the show:
​"I started to experience with double exposure in analog film photography so that I could properly teach it to my students. I have never done this before, but I shot a roll of 36 at an ISO 800 on ISO 400 film, and after I was finished the roll, I loaded it BACK into the camera to shoot another 36 and hoped that my images would overlap in an aesthetically pleasing way. Before loading the first roll of film, I drew on the film in Sharpie to indicate where to reload the film and line it up perfectly, but truly, I was ok with any imperfections. I walked around Philadelphia and started shooting both objects, people, nature, and anything I thought would be interesting.

I have my own darkroom in my art classroom, so I developed the photos myself and was pleasantly surprised by how a lot of them turned out. In particular, I liked the abstract images where the viewer has to really stop, look, and think about what two things I overlapped.

​I have been an art teacher for over 12 years and realized I need to experience more with my own art and photography and it felt special to draw in sharpie on my film and hope for the best and then show my students my work. I use the unpredictable nature of 35mm double exposure to explore the overlapping layers of identity and environment. By exposing the same frame of film twice, I aim to move beyond traditional portraiture and into a realm of surrealism where my subjects are physically entwined with the spaces they inhabit: whether it is the vibrant energy of a classroom or the industrial textures of Fishtown. By layering faces over city signs, metalwork, and shared social spaces, I want the viewer to feel the psychological weight of a location. My goal is to capture the "ghost" of a moment, creating images that feel less like a frozen second in time and more like a lingering memory.

I introduced the concept of double exposure to my high school photography class, and we were inspired by the original double exposure images of the Victorian era, where it was aesthetically pleasing to create ghost-like prints."

70+ Student Artists from Masterman Represented at the District Art Show!

4/19/2026

 
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The School District of Philadelphia's 70th art show will be on May 8th, 2026 at 4:30 PM and Masterman has over 70 student artists who's art was chosen to be on display in the historical art gallerys on 440 N. Broad St.

Class of 2025 graduate Joseph Chen's art work from AP Art last year was chosen to be on all of the publications and press for the upcoming exhibit.

Here is a list of names from students through grades 5-12 who's artwork was chosen: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1vU3r1nLRsF3eIBcH7nukO4FptjKunGIls0YukaAIbXQ/edit?usp=sharing

Congratulations to Sophia Chen in 7-4!

3/1/2026

 
Congratulations to Sophia Chen in 7-4!

Her submission, The Bolt, was selected as a runner-up out of over 14,000 submissions in the New York Times Learning Network writing contest, Teen Tiny Memoirs. This is the 4th year for the competition which asks
 teenagers to write miniature memoirs (100 words) about meaningful moments in their lives.
​​
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/19/learning/tiny-memoir-contest-winners.html

DECA Team Shines at State Conference

3/1/2026

 
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A huge congratulations to our DECA team on an impressive showing at the recent PA State Conference! Our students demonstrated true Masterman Excellence throughout the event, approaching every competition and presentation with remarkable poise, confidence, and skill.

We are incredibly proud of how they represented our school on the state stage and showcased their leadership and business knowledge.

We would like to give a special shoutout to our individual award winners for their outstanding achievements:
  • Giovanny Moniaga: 1st Place in PSPK
  • Hana Halimitabrizi: 2nd Place in JOB
  • Xin Huang: 6th Place in PFL and Top Role Play score at Masterman
  • Samuel Hornik: Top Test Score at Masterman

We are so proud of your hard work and dedication. Way to go, DECA!

​

Debate Team Update

2/22/2026

 
More congratulations are due to Masterman’s debate team! Last weekend, four pairs competed at the Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament. Seniors Tova and Taylor made it all the way to the semi-final round, placing them in the top four out of 372 entries from around the country. It was especially great to see Masterman debate alumni Ray, Owen, and Henry returning to the tournament as coaches.
This weekend, two additional pairs qualified for States, so three teams will be traveling to Bloomsburg, PA on March 19th. Go Blue Dragons!

Debate Team Win

2/15/2026

 
Masterman wins the University of Pennsylvania Liberty Bell Classic debate tournament! Facing hundreds of debaters from around the country, seniors Tova and Taylor made it through six elimination rounds (beginning with tripleoctofinals) to win finals on a 2-1 decision, placing 1st overall in the Public Forum Debate category. Congratulations also to the 7 other Masterman teams that competed!

This weekend, 4 teams are at the Harvard National Speech and Debate Tournament in Boston—stay tuned. 

​Athletics Update  2/9—2/13

2/15/2026

 
On Wednesday our swim team attended the PIT swim championships. Out of 24 individual races we had 18 best times! 

Freshman Laney Grubb placed 1st in the 100 backstroke and 2nd in the 100 free
Freshman Maggie Grier placed 1st in the 50 free and 2nd in the 100 breaststroke 
Junior Celina Pham placed 1st in the 200 free and 3rd in the 100 free
Junior Jordan Bellosi placed 1st in the 200 IM and 1000 breaststroke 
Junior Colin Ryan placed 2nd in the 100 back and 50 free

Junior David Mach placed 1st in the 100 breaststroke
Micah Neale placed 3rd in the 100 backstroke
Junior Lucas Chen placed 1st in the 100 free and 2nd in the 200 free 
Junior Leon You placed 2nd in the 100 free and 3rd in the 200 free 

Boys 200 free Relay placed 1st and 400 free Relay placed 2nd 
Girls 200 free Relay and 400 free Relays both placed 1st.

Overall Masterman had a wonderful day at the pool! 

What a spectacular day for indoor track at the PPL Championships. You all met the moment, performing your best when it mattered the most. And I mean this quite literally, with 14 different athletes setting their personal bests throughout the day.  - Coach Renikoff

It was a clean sweep for the middle school basketball teams on Friday at AMY James Martin. The girls raced out to a 24-0 lead at halftime and posted a 37-4 win. Juliet Kovatis was a driving force in scoring and rebounding. The boys were awesome again defensively and rallied for a 28-18 triumph to move their record to 3-0 on the season. Both teams are back at it this afternoon at the Masterman Gym vs. Potter Thomas.

​Middle Schoolers MathCounts Chapter Competition

2/15/2026

 
On Saturday Feb 7th, 14 of our middle schoolers participated in the Mathcounts Chapter Competition. 8 teams competed and Masterman took 1st place in the team round!  Congratulations to all competitors, who participated in the intense competition that spanned 4 rounds:

7th Vidur Diwakar
8th Vihaan Kaushik
8th Yitong Jiang
8th Shrinil Amin
6th Rehan Rasul
8th Grace Siegel
7th Aydin Ergi
7th Isaac Aguirre
7th Viven Chen
8th Olivia Ryerson
6th Cassie Zhang
7th Agnibha Roy Chowdhury
6th Emma Cheng

From 100 competitors down to 10 at the start of the countdown round, Vidur took 2nd place!! To be commended were Vihaan at 5th place and Yitong at 7th. Vidur will head to Harrisburg on March 21 to compete in the individual state competition. And, with the guidance of our team captain, Vihaan, Yitong, Vidur and Shrinil will be competing in the team portion, as they nabbed the 1st place team spot!! 
Huge shout out to 10th grader Aaryan Gada and parent Prachi Gada, for their continued coaching, encouragement and dedication to the team!!

​Masterman Mock Election News

2/15/2026

 
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(Pictured: Isabella Trieu as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Dylan Connelly as Josh Shapiro after Friday’s debate)
The two senior AP Government classes have just completed the Mock Election project at Masterman, and the results are in!  For the past two weeks, each class researched and prepared for the annual mock election debate, where two students acted as candidates Josh Shapiro and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (A.O.C.). The debate, which was held on Friday, February 6, 2026, was the culminating event in the Mock Election project. The event was organized by students, some of whom will be voting for the first time in the upcoming November election, and was held in front of the entire high school. 

The theme of this year's Mock Election was the internal tug-of-war over the Democratic Party’s identity. The party must decide if its future depends on energizing its progressive wing or broadening its appeal to moderate voters to win on the national stage. A.O.C. and Shapiro represented their respective wings, and the Masterman voters decided.

The results of the election were: Shapiro 52% (212 votes), A.O.C. 48% (194 votes)

Here are links to the campaign advertisements (Shapiro, Ocasio-Cortez) that were shown as part of the program.

AP Art Achievements

2/3/2026

 
Congrats to our Scholastic Art Award Winners from AP Art! Seniors Tess Mullen and Hana Halimitabrizi both won regional awards in Philadelphia for fantastic art. Hana was given "Honorable Mention" for her illustration on nostalgia and Tess was awarded a "Gold Key" for her "Crawling" collage of over 1,300 cutout eyes from magazines. Tess's art was entered into the National Competition for Art and we will hear back in March if she places nationally. Great job to both students and Go Tess Go!!! 

Ethics Bowl Recap

2/2/2026

 
Congratulations to the Ethics Bowl team for their performance at this year's local tournament at UPenn!
​The team of Halimah Fasasi ('26), Harry Renfro ('26), Nikodem Protasewicz ('27), Corinne Xu ('27), Zohar Yurdin ('27), Leila Golzari Hunt ('28), and Olivia Kang ('28) came in third place. They beat out in a tie-breaker Masterman's other team: Kimathi Ashong ('27), Bruno Beckman ('27), Beatrice Bloovman ('27), April Chen ('27), Alastair Herman ('27), Mariana Martinez ('27), Mady Muñoz Martinez ('27), Austin Zhang ('28), and Maria Sosa ('29).
Almost everyone on the team was competing for the first time, and they look forward to coming back even stronger next year! 

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