News

Seamus Naughter '25 and Cullen Peterson '25 were co-winners of the Rugby Delaware scholarship this year. Rugby Delaware awards annual scholarships to graduating high school seniors who will be joining the rugby program at their college or university of choice.

Head Coach Pete Duncan led the Archmere lacrosse team to an 11-6 record this season, Diamond State Athletic Conference Championship for the fifth year in a row, and a quarterfinal appearance in the DIAA State Tournament. The team once again pushed themselves this year outside of the state and their conference, competing against teams in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Archmere lacrosse not only boasted 13 All-Conference players in addition to 4 All-State players, but seniors Aidan Mahoney and Jack Chesman recently earned All-American honors.

The Meet of Champions offers all runners, throwers and jumpers from the State of Delaware an opportunity to showcase their respective talents in a head-to-head competition with the best of the best culled from their performances at the State Track & Field Championships. On Tuesday, May 20, several members of the Archmere track and field team competed at Dover High School against 30 other teams, recording not only personal best times and top finishes, but another school record by the girls 4x800m.

The girls soccer team played in a rain soaked Quarterfinal match up against Wilmington Friends on Thursday, May 22nd at the Salesianum fields. The Auks' 3-1 win over the Quakers pushed them on to the DIAA Semifinals, where they will take on the Buccaneers on the road at Caravel Academy. Senior Marina Mahon led the team with 2 goals, senior Lyla Bell added one, and sophomore goalie Lucy Fiacco recorded 8 saves. The team, now 12-4, will play Caravel in a State Semifinal matchup on Wednesday, May 28th at 6:00pm. Tickets must be purchased in advance on the DIAA Go Fan website. 

Pictures from the Wilmington Friends Quarterfinal game can be found here. 

On Thursday evening, May 15th, the Archmere Rugby team once again took on Salesianum on the Fusco Fields for the Rugby Delaware State Championship Cup. The match was named the Mark Dombroski Cup, in honor of Mark Dombroski, a 2017 Archmere graduate and rugby player who lost his life in March 2018 while at a rugby competition with St. Joseph's University in Bermuda.

Aidan Mahoney ‘25 was awarded the 2025 David G. Bakerian Scholarship, which is sponsored by the Delaware Bankers Association and in cooperation with the Delaware Financial Education Alliance, the University of Delaware’s Center for Economic Education and Entrepreneurship (CEEE), the Consumer Credit Counseling Services of Maryland and Delaware, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia. Each year, two scholarships are given to Delaware high school students participating in the Keys to Financial Success elective course. Winners are selected on the strength of essays on the importance of financial literacy education.

On May 13th at home in the Moglia Fieldhouse, the boys volleyball team defeated Odyssey Charter in a "hard-earned 3-0 sweep" in the First Round of the DIAA State Tournament. Set scores were 25-16, 26-24, and 25-22. The Auks reached the State Tournament for the first time after their second season as a varsity program.

Last weekend the track and field team competed at the New Castle County Championships, held at Saint Mark's High School.

On the road on May 12th, Archmere built an early lead that didn’t last, but the Auks responded when challenged in the second half and captured an exciting 5-4 girls soccer win at Wilmington Friends. It was their sixth consecutive win in a row. Archmere came out fast and furious, building a 3 goal lead in the first 25 minutes. Friends came back just as fierce, and was able to tie the game twice before Lila Matthews '28 was able to take advantage of an outlet pass by their goalie. Archmere goalie Lucy Fiacco '27 recorded an impressive 10 saves in the match.

Congratulations to the twelve Archmere senior athletes who plan on continuing their athletic careers at the collegiate level!

On Wednesday, April 30th, the Track and Field Diamond State Athletic Conference Championships were held at the Robert Gore Stadium at Newark Charter High School. The Archmere girls team won their fourth consecutive conference title while the boys came in second! In addition, Caden-Cole McKinney tied the high jump record at Archmere with a jump of 6-2, and several Auks recorded Archmere All-Time performances. 

The Diocese of Wilmington St. Francis de Sales Awards Convocation for Catholic High School Seniors recognizes students for "excellence in faith development, scholarship, service, leadership and citizenship". The Convocation was held on Wednesday evening, April 30, at Holy Angels Church in Newark, Delaware, and was presided by Bishop Koenig. Ten Archmere seniors have been recognized as award winners: Logan Bustard, Jack Chesman, Charlie Malloy, Emily Mayo, Bridget McNamara, Cullen Peterson, David Pinto, Kathryn Pyne, Helen Socorso and Meredith Victoria.

Drama Club Attends West Chester Theatre Festival

This month the Drama Club attended the West Chester Theatre Festival to present a competition piece called, "The Spot". The club attended performance workshops, a Q&A with a current Broadway actor, and was able to meet with college acting students and students from four other high schools. In addition, "The Spot" was recognized with several awards that day:

 - Caeli McAlonan was awarded an Outstanding Performance medallion for a monologue auditions competition

The Cappies, "Critics and Awards Program," is a program through which high school theater and journalism students are trained as critics, attend shows at other schools, write reviews, and publish those reviews. The Cappies is an international program for recognizing, celebrating, and providing learning experiences for high school theater and journalism students and teenage playwrights. Getting published earns a critic point towards that critic award. Archmere's winter/spring musical, Alice by Heart, was a Cappies show this year, and hosted critics from all over the Philly area.

Archmere art student Daniel Qi ‘26 has been named the recipient of the annual Michael Curcio '06 Emerging Artist Scholarship Award for his commitment to the study of art, outstanding portfolio, and originally conceived sketchbook. Daniel was selected for the award by several art alumni who helped jury the entries: Monique Rollins '98, Vincent LaCava '87, Mark Smith '86, and Amanda Phelan '06. Daniel's work was recently highlighted at the Archmere Fine Arts Festival on April 25th.

HRAI Student Daniel Qi '26 Serves as Concert Master

In addition to earning the first place win at the Music Teachers National Association Senior Performance competition, violinist Daniel Qi '26 served as concert master of the All Eastern Honors Ensemble Orchestra at the National Association of Music Education in Hartford, Connecticut on April 27.

On April 22nd, Sanford kept the score tight against the Archmere boys lacrosse team for the first half of their game, but the final two minutes of the half and all of the second half belonged to the Auks. Archmere scored six straight goals to take control in a 14-5 road win over the Warriors.

Congratulations to sophomore Colleen Burke for earning a spot in this summer's very prestigious Governor's School for Excellence. The Delaware Governor's School for Excellence is a one-week summer program that brings together academically and artistically talented Delaware high school students who have completed their sophomore year. Students are nominated to participate in Governor’s School through their schools via a competitive application process. Colleen was nominated and chosen for the visual arts program. Students can only be nominated for one category in either the academic or arts program.

The U.S. Secretary of Education announced the selection of Luke Merritt, senior at Archmere Academy, as a Semifinalist for recognition as a 2025 U.S. Presidential Scholar. Luke is being considered, along with hundreds of other home school, public school, and private school students from across the country, to be officially named one of the up to 161 Presidential Scholars.

On April 16th the Archmere baseball team played Concord High School under the lights at Frawley Stadium. The game started off on a slower pace, with Reece O’Halloran '28 as the lone baserunner in the first three innings. The Raiders, who entered the game undefeated, finally broke through in the fourth, but Archmere quickly answered. Reece once again hit a single and then scored, with the help of a hit by pitcher Riley Schultz '25.

13 Archmere students attended the annual Youth in Government (YIG) conference in Dover, DE from April 4-6. Over 3 days, students in the judicial branch argued/heard a case as both attorneys and judges, students in the legislative branch wrote and advocated for bills in the House and Senate chambers, and students acted as lobbyists as well as ran a press corps that publicized and covered the whole conference.

Archmere juniors Michael Liu and Selena Yang participated in the 30th Annual New Castle County Science Fair, where they took third place in the high school team category for their project titled “Assessing the Impact of Lifestyle on Glucose Levels Using Continuous Glucose Monitoring.” 

9th grade students Grace Shenal ‘28 & Sophia Silverman ‘28 were nominated to represent Archmere at the 2025 HOBY CLeW (Community Leadership Workshop), held at the University of Delaware on Saturday, April 5th. HOBY is an acronym for the Hugh O’Brian Youth Leadership Foundation, and is an organization dedicated to inspiring and developing our global community of youth and volunteers to a life dedicated to leadership, service, and innovation. HOBY believes that all students have the potential to lead, and programming like CLeW brings students from different backgrounds, cultures, and communities together.

On Monday, March 30, Head of School Dr. Michael A. Marinelli, Ed.D. ’76 announced his planned retirement from Archmere Academy. After 15 years in the position, Dr. Marinelli has decided to retire effective June 30, 2026. Please see below for the press release and information on the search committee for his replacement:

On Wednesday, March 26, two teams of Archmere students competed at the State Math Meet Invitational, held in Dover. In order to qualify for the State Meet, Archmere's Math League teams competed in 4 regular season meets from October to February this year, earning excellent results. At the Dover State Meet, the 9th grade A team and the 10th-12th grade A team placed second in the state overall!

Valentina Ramos ’26, Rebecca Wang ’26 and Brianna Yang ’25 have been named this year’s Gold Key Scholastic Writing award regional winners. Rebecca and Valentina received their gold keys and certificates on Sunday, March 30th, at the Oliver’s Golf Club in Wilmington. The awards ceremony was hosted by the regional National League of American Pen Women (NLAPW) in conjunction with Scholastic Writing and Art Awards.

In their season opener on March 26, Archmere freshman Ava Milewski pitched a two-hitter with eight strikeouts, and classmate Juliet Polsky went three for three and drove in four runs in a 13-2 five-inning victory over MOT Charter. The Auks scored all of their runs in the first three innings.

Youth Art Month is an annual observance each year to emphasize the value of art and art education for all children and to encourage support for quality school art programs. It is observed in March, administered by the Council for Art Education (CFAE), with thousands of American schools participating. Often, local art museums and civic organizations are involved in promoting the work. The 2024/2025 theme is “Healing Through Color”.

The Governor’s Youth Volunteer Service Awards recognize and celebrates outstanding volunteers in our community. Jace Walker '25 has been selected to receive the Governor’s Volunteer Service Award, and will be honored on Thursday, May 1st in Dover, DE. Jace was nominated by Archmere Art & Design Department Teacher Mrs. Stephanie Silverman '00.

The Alliance for Young Artists & Writers, the nonprofit organization that presents the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, has recognized two Archmere students with National Scholastic Medals. Nearly 110,000 teens entered more than 310,000 original works of art and writing to the 2025 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards. Roman Guerrieri '25 was awarded a National Silver Medal for his "Handy Holder" Architecture & Industrial Design Category, and Grace Yang '25 was awarded a Gold Medal, Painting Category, for her piece entitled "Feeling Buggy."

The Delaware High School Mock Trial Competition took place on February 28 and March 1, 2025 at the Leonard L. Williams Justice Center. Varsity Team Captains Brianna Yang (‘25) and Daniel Qi (‘26) led their team through 4 rounds of competition, winning two rounds and ending in a tie in two rounds.

Archmere Art & Design Department faculty member Stephanie Silverman '00 has been invited as a Featured Presenter to speak at the National Art Education Association National Convention in Kentucky. Her presentation, titled Optimizing Creative Agency & Scaffolding for Success: A Backwards-Designed Curricular Framework for AP Studio Art, was accepted for inclusion in the 2025 NAEA National Convention program, taking place March 20–22, 2025, in Louisville, KY.

Archmere sophomores Audrey Curtis and Iyanna Flores have been selected to represent the state of Delaware at the YMCA National Changemakers Summit in Orlando, FL, from June 27-29, 2025. The YMCA National Changemakers Summit is a national event where high school students propose and present projects addressing critical issues in their communities, with finalists receiving funding to implement their ideas. 

The Art & Design and English departments joined forces on Monday, February 24th to celebrate the record number (235 combined awards) of Scholastic Art & Writing honors awarded to Archmere students in the 2025 competition. All entries were evaluated by a panel of jurors in specialty fields of writing, art and design. Student winners are honored by the Scholastics Program in Dover, Delaware, at a reception at regional affiliate Delaware State University. This year, in addition to the regional reception, both Archmere departments wanted to celebrate the undeniable creativity, imagination, and technical skill of our incredible students on campus in the Patio, with faculty from both departments in attendance. Students enjoyed treats from Sage Dining, and certificates and Gold and Silver Key pins were distributed to our incredible students.

Both the 9th grade and 10th-12th Math League teams finished very strong in the regional competition!

After the final regional Math League meet, Archmere's 10th-12th A and B teams are in 1st and 2nd place in our region out of 10 teams. Kabir Goyal and Kevin Xiao tied for 1st place overall with 23 points each, Kathrine Wang is in 2nd place with 17 points, and Daniel Qi in 3rd place with 16 points. Zora Zhang, Rebecca Wang, Alice Zhang and Amy Yin ranked just below them with every student from other schools placing below all of them. Both teams are headed to the State Invitational Meet at the end of March.

The Department of World Languages and Cultures began the next cycle of Archmere's Exchange Program this month. We welcomed 10 students from Yanping High School, located in Daan District, Taipei City, Taiwan. Two teachers accompanied the 10 students, who were matched with and hosted by Archmere families in their homes.

Harmony for Peace Foundation Awards

The Harmony for Peace Foundation recently recognized several of our HRAI student musicians. The Foundation celebrates the power of the arts and music for a more peaceful world, and students compete to become ambassadors for peace through music.

Third Prize awards went to: Andres Ramos '26, strings and Valentina Ramos '26, piano. Honorable Mention was awarded to Arlene Chiu '25. The students study under Mrs. Mary Ellen Schauber, Director of the Helena Raskob Arts Institute.

On Saturday, February 1st the Archmere wrestling team competed against 11 other teams at the Quaker Round Robin. The all day competition was held at the Wilmington Friends School.

On January 11, 2025 the Archmere indoor track and field team participated in the High School Invitational at Tower Hill with 16 other teams. The team boasted another successful weekend with several new Archmere All-Time top performances.

Archmere senior Charlie Malloy scored 18 points, "several when his team needed them the most", as Archmere remained undefeated with a 53-48 win over the Bulldogs on Wednesday, January 8th. Junior John Orsini scored 14 and Ryan Hagenberg added 10 as the Auks competed against Brandywine at home in the Moglia Fieldhouse.

Maxwell Football Club President, Mark Dianno, announced the 2024 Mini Max High School Award winners for the state of Delaware last week. Archmere senior Jack Bradley has been named one of forty-four Mini Max high school award winners for Delaware by the Maxwell Football Club. Jack joins 155 student-athletes from Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware. Players were nominated by their coaches throughout the 2024 season and were evaluated based on criteria that includes: football performance, academics, and community service.