What do these Ivy League-bound grads have in common? One middle school

Harvard University. Yale University. Columbia University.

Those are some of the next steps for recent Sioux Falls School District graduates who have one thing in common: They all were the first to attend the district’s middle school honors program.

Seven years after they began as sixth graders, these honors program alumni now are National Merit Scholar Finalists, AP Scholars, varsity athletes, student council members and much more. Their college destinations include more than half of all Ivy League schools, along with universities from coast to coast, including Georgetown University, the University of Chicago and Rice University, among others. 

And as these students move on, so is the principal who has been with the honors program since its inception. Edison Middle School principal Shane Hieronimus will become the new principal at Ben Reifel Middle School this fall. He said the program has provided students with a medium for success not only for their academics but also for their personal growth.

“It just gave them another way to basically demonstrate their skills and demonstrate their interests because many of them do have interests in those particular areas,” Hieronimus said. “I think it was very progressive for the (Sioux Falls School District) to provide a pathway for kids that we’re identifying as gifted.”

Student success stories

Lincoln High School graduate and honors program alumni Radiana Simeonova plans on attending Yale in New Haven, Connecticut, to study molecular, cellular and developmental biology.

During high school, Simeonova was a two-sport varsity athlete, president of the Science National Honors Society, a Youth Action Council member and a member of the Augustana University orchestra. She took 16 AP classes over the course of her high school career while also taking courses at Augustana. 

Simeonova intends to keep up that involvement in college.

“I plan to continue running for fun and volunteering when I can, and I will be auditioning for the Yale Symphony Orchestra,” Simeonova said.

Simeonova credits her work ethic to the opportunity to take advanced courses throughout her public education, especially in the honors program.

The honors program “taught me how to challenge myself and set high expectations for myself from a young age, and that carried through into all my activities and extracurriculars in high school,” Simeonova said. “Being challenged throughout elementary and middle school made the adjustment to high school and the workload much easier because I was already used to it.”

Despite her academic success, the past year has not been without challenges for Simeonova and her classmates. The college decision and admission process became complicated because of travel restrictions during the pandemic, she explained.

“We were really lucky to get to be in person during the year, so it wasn’t much different than any other year,” Simeonova said. “With college admissions, however, it was a unique experience because many students had never visited or toured the schools they were applying to, so it was more difficult to make a choice when it came time to commit.”

Another Lincoln High School graduate, Sara Croghan, will be attending Columbia in New York City and studying political science and economics. Also heavily involved in school activities like the varsity volleyball and track teams and the school newspaper as well as starting her own nonprofit, Croghan said her experience in the Sioux Falls School District has helped her find hobbies and passions that she enjoys.

“I have learned so much about my passions and how I enjoy spending my time from these activities,” Croghan said. “I especially have found a passion for writing and photography that I hope to put to use in some way in the future.”

Croghan said she is looking forward to her next four years in New York City, and hopes to experience an even higher level of academic challenge during her time at Columbia.

“I am very excited for the extreme academic challenge and opportunity that Columbia itself will present, but (also) all a city like New York has to offer,” Croghan said. “I think I will learn just as much in class as I will from my peers and my environment, and that is truly all I can ask for.”

She also has advice for parents who are putting their children through the gifted education path or planning on it.

“I have always been grateful for (my parents’) willingness to let me control and be responsible for my education,” Croghan said. “Whether that means deciding what classes I take for myself or even watching over my own grades, I think I can attribute the responsibility I show now to the gift of this responsibility I was given at a young age. I have had friends express similar sentiments, and I would stress the importance of a kid’s own control over their education to parents of gifted children.”

Washington High School graduate Catherine Liu will be bringing her skills to Harvard this fall, and she said she’s anticipating a major shift in her lifestyle.

“I feel like there are a lot of opportunities there that aren’t in Sioux Falls, like a lot more concerts for people I’m actually interested in hearing,” Liu said. “I’ve never been to a concert before, so I’m very excited for that opportunity. There’s also just like a lot of food in Boston. So I’m excited for things like Korean barbecue or hot pot or like dim sum, which we don’t necessarily have here.”

Like many seniors this year, Liu did not have a chance to visit the campus or the city she’ll be calling home for the next four years.

“I’ve never been that far for such a long period of time. I guess it’s a very weird transition,” Liu said. “I kind of feel unprepared just because I’ve never done it before, but I feel like a lot of other people are in the same boat.”

Much of Liu’s high school experience revolved around being a member of the debate team. This year, she qualified for the national competition in the Lincoln-Douglas debate category and won second place, cementing her spot as one of the best debaters in the country. 

“I am going to miss debate,” Liu said. “Even though it was over Zoom, when they were doing the award ceremony, they called my name, and I was surrounded by a bunch of people from around the state who did my event. And they just started cheering and  instant tears started coming down.”

Liu said she’s not sure whether she’ll continue debate at Harvard, but she feels prepared for the overall rigorous curriculum, especially because of the challenging classes she has taken throughout her academic career.

“I feel like I wrote more analytical things in middle school in eighth grade, like U.S. history and English, than I did all of freshman and sophomore year,” Liu said. “So I think that kind of preparation and sort of rigorous type of learning will help me as I transition into college.”

What’s next for the honors program?

The honors program will be moving to Patrick Henry Middle School in the fall, and Hieronimus said Sioux Falls School District families can anticipate growth in the program.

“It’s grown over the years. We started off with about 60 to 70 students. This past year, there were 102 students in the program,” he said. “This first year at Patrick, I think that there’s 112 or 113 sixth graders that are coming in.”

Although the program itself will be changing locations, most of the teachers that helped found it will be moving with it, Hieronimus said. He also said that while the district did not necessarily anticipate so many success stories, it’s not surprising.

“The Sioux Falls School District works so hard to give kids multiple pathways to be successful and to basically live out their dreams and help their dreams come true,” Hieronimus said. “It obviously is a great surprise to know that all those kids are extending their career paths and education and are able to go to these schools. And it’s been a great experience from my aspect, being able to work with those families and those students and giving them the opportunity to be able to go down that pathway.”