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By ALEXIS BARTOLOMUCCI
Luke Martinucci, a Poland resident and student at The Lewis Center, finished his eighth-grade year with several achievements.
Martinucci became a top scorer in the nation in three out of five subjects in the online Academic Pentathlon competition for his first year competing. He succeeded in the fine arts, science and social science subjects. He attended practices twice a week with his team and his coach Carla Jenkins. These practices occurred from October to May.
The Academic Pentathlon is a five-event scholastic competition for middle school students. There are five academic events consisting of literature, mathematics, fine arts, science and social science.
Those students participating in the Pentathlon were given booklets to read on each of the five subjects. The booklets contained information about World War II which was the topic for this year’s Pentathlon.
In 2016 Martinucci competed in the Geography Bee for the first time, but didn’t make it to the final round. This year he won fourth place competing at the state level in Columbus. He spent time reading his atlas, participating in online study guides and reviews and was quizzed by his parents.
Martinucci qualified for state by winning his school competition followed by a state-wide online test. The online test accepted the top 100 scores from students in Ohio.
Along with being gifted in his academic career, Martinucci also spends time performing at several Dana School of Music recitals. He has spent the last two summers attended the Summer Sonata intensive camp at the Cleveland Institute of Music.
Martinucci looks forward to attending Ursuline High School in the fall to continue his academic career.