Hopkinton High School students took home a haul of awards from the Business Professionals of America (BPA) state competition.

Winners included Cindy Yang (first place in Advanced Desktop Publishing, first in Graphic Design Promotion, third in Fundamental Desktop Publishing), Sucheta Sunder (first in Computer Modeling, second in Advanced Desktop Publishing, fourth in Fundamental Desktop Publishing), Neil Abraham (second in Banking and Finance, second in Personal Financial Management), Amelia Bashy (fourth in Banking and Finance, fifth in Intermediate Word Processing), Jacob Waxman (second in Basic Office Systems and Procedures, fourth in Intermediate Word Processing), Sahithi Pogula (first in Business Law and Ethics, second in Entrepreneurship), Kevin Gu (second in Fundamental Desktop Publishing, fourth in Business Law and Ethics), Sanketh Udupa (first in Digital Media Production, first in Fundamental Word Processing, fourth in Fundamental Spreadsheet Applications), Mahdi Maymandi-Nejad (second in Extemporaneous Speech, second in Python Programming), Sreya Ravi (first in Fundamental Desktop Publishing), Alveena Ehsan (fourth in Interview Skills) and Bharat Mekela (fourth in PC Servicing and Troubleshooting).

Additional winners included the teams of Pogula and Harini Thatigutla (first in Global Marketing), Bashy, Elise Blackstock, Lela Hardin and Shreya Thalvayapati (first in Podcast Production), Udupa, Farzad Ferdous and Joshua Huang (third in Presentation Management), Abraham, Mekela, Kyle Bertucci-Bissonnette and Nathan Carson (first in Small Business Management), and Waxman and Gabe O’Brien (third in Small Business Management).

The BPA provides opportunities for students to work on projects related to business, including such topics as finance, IT and computer applications. Students work with mentors in the business community who provide feedback on these projects.

HHS magazine earns top honor

The National Council of Teachers of English, as part of its Recognizing Excellence in Art and Literary Magazines (REALM) program, awarded the Hopkinton High School literary magazine Marginal its top award, Realm First Class, for the 2020 issue.

The senior editors for Marginal’s 2020 issue were Mia Carboni, Alisa Stolyar and Isabella O’Rourke.

Local collegians recognized

Hopkinton’s Devon Rancourt, a senior at Connecticut College, was recognized by the U.S. Department of State with a 2021 Critical Language Scholarship, a prestigious study abroad scholarship. Rancourt, a Slavic studies and history double major who previously won a CLS scholarship in 2019, is using the award this time to take virtual, intensive Russian classes with the KORA Russian Language Center in Vladimir, Russia.

“I’m grateful to be participating in CLS a second time because I had a very positive experience in 2019 in terms of significant language progress and the connections I made with my host family in Kyrgyzstan,” Rancourt said. “Improving my language skills is important to me because I would like to teach the Russian language in the future.” …

Amanda Gollaher, a junior at Colgate University majoring in international relations, earned the dean’s award with distinction for the fall semester.

Editor’s note: Information for college honors is provided by the schools. Those interested in being included in this section should forward the information or request for the school to email it to editor@hopkintonindependent.com.