Way to Go! Peter Danaher of Lindenhurst
Peter Danaher, an eighth-grader at Lindenhurst Middle School, "prepared a lot" for the competitive French test. Credit: Lindenhurst School District
A Lindenhurst student is one of only 59 eighth-graders nationwide — and the only one from a Suffolk County school — to earn a perfect score on this year’s National French Contest.
Peter Danaher, an eighth-grader at Lindenhurst Middle School, correctly answered all 70 questions on the multiple-choice exam, titled “Le Grand Concours,” sponsored by the American Association of Teachers of French.
The test was taken by more than 21,700 eighth-graders across the country.
“I was really happy and pretty surprised,” said Danaher, 14. “I prepared a lot for this.”
He said he got ready by reviewing tests from previous years given to him by his French teacher, Marissa Unger.
Danaher was honored at a Board of Education meeting as well as at an awards ceremony earlier this month hosted by the association’s Suffolk County Chapter.
“I was almost in tears because I was so ecstatic and proud of him,” Unger said of Danaher’s performance. “I always knew he was a superstar.”
Danaher is on his school’s track team and in the French Club. He also plays flute in the school band and guitar in his free time.
In addition, he ranked in the 99th percentile of this year’s MathCON, an online competition open to students in grades 5-12.
Michael R. Ebert is an education researcher and has worked for Newsday in various capacities since 2003. He was part of an 11-person team named as 2008 Pulitzer Prize finalists for investigative coverage of the LIRR's platform safety issues.
