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Oakwood Junior High eighth-grader Alex Zhang is earning national attention after performing at Carnegie Hall on April 21.
Zhang has been playing piano since he was five years old, under the guidance of Yunting Lee.
After competing in the American Protégé International Piano and Strings Competition, Zhang earned the opportunity to perform Nocturne OP.9 No 2 for the recital at the world-renowned music hall.
American Protégé International is an international music competition designed to inspire, promote and advance the careers of musicians of all ages and callings.
In addition to piano, Zhang said he plays the clarinet in the school band, loves playing tennis and enjoys programming.
For the eighth consecutive year, Oakwood High School is celebrating a Division III national title for its Academic Decathlon team. The squad secured the win at the United States Academic Decathlon National Championship in Bloomington, Minn., this week.
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Earning the highest team score in Division III Nationals history, OHS outscored 71 other teams from Division I, II, III and IV from across the United States, China and the United Kingdom to place second overall out of 73 teams.
Individually, OHS decathletes achieved 66 medals, including three perfect 1,000 scores. William Ayres scored perfect in the areas of art and social students and Rebecca Gentry in the area of art.
Ayres, the highest-scoring individual for OHS, was the second highest-scoring individual of the competition that included more than 800 students.
OHS decathletes earned first, second and third in each GPA division, a total sweep. In the Honors division, Richard Roediger was first, Noah Kingston second and Jordan Neeley third.
In the Scholastic division, Ayres was first, Gentry second and Samantha Auditore third. In the Varsity division, Miles Jones was first, Cameron Hendrix second and Bryan Bassett third.
The team, coached by Lori Morris, earned $7,250 in collegiate scholarship money. OHS also took first place in Division III in the Super Quiz Relay event. Erik Munk, Luke Smallwood, Colman Smith and Kaleb Swedlund traveled with the team as alternates.
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