Medicine

The catalyst was her freshman science class where the teacher gave them the freedom to study how cells work in the context of something that interested them. Lily picked a research project on how an anti-cancer compound was being used to cure schizophrenia. “That was the one project that I remember the most because I got to apply it to something I was interested in,” she says.

In the spring of her senior year, Lily even pushed outside her comfort zone and acted in a play for the first time ever. “I love watching theater, but I’ve never really participated in it. So that was different and I loved it,” she says. “I don’t know if it’s for me, but I definitely loved the experience.”

Finally, she ended her journey, addressing her classmates as valedictorian. Lily talked about change and how to embrace it. Her class, touched by three years of the pandemic, “had to do more with less time,” she said.

Lily is on to Wellesley College, where she plans to study neuroscience and hopes to someday become a surgeon. “I also wasn’t super sure about the all-women’s college idea. I didn’t really know if that was for me, but then I sat in on a class at an all-women’s college, and it was just a really cool experience,” she says. “I love that feeling and just the camaraderie that went along with it.”

What Lily says she will miss most about Cushing are the people. “It’s such a good environment and I got so close with not only the students, but all the faculty,” she says. “It is just having that endless support system.”

We will miss you, too, Lily.

Luke Saunders ’04 has a passion for food that first grew through a vegetable garden at his home in Basking Ridge, New Jersey. At Cushing Academy, Saunders joined the food committee, pushing for healthier, better-tasting food in the dining hall.

As Saunders told the Class of 2022 in his Commencement address, those early seeds have blossomed into a thriving business. Farmer’s Fridge, of which he is the founder and CEO, sells healthy food from refrigerated vending machines in airports, hospitals, office buildings and — since a pandemic pivot — also through home delivery.

Saunders is part of a large Penguin clan, including his father Kerby Saunders ’67, a longtime trustee and trustee emeritus, sister Leah ’05, uncle Cardie ’65, and cousins George ’04 and Chris ’06. When he entered Cushing as a sophomore, the draw was more robust extracurricular and community opportunities, he said in an interview.

“The things that were happening outside of the classroom had a huge impact,” Saunders says. “I am always really grateful for that. The diversity of the student body, from geography, languages — it really enabled me to meet lots of different types of people, and informed how I think now.”

High-quality academics were a factor, too, he says. “By the time I got to college, I was getting feedback from my freshmen-year professors that I was pretty ahead of the curve, so that preparation was invaluable.”

Even with that solid foundation, Saunders told the graduates and their families, the road wasn’t straight and