SPRING 2013
Ashley Drews
Zach Rosenthal ’13
I can’t remember exactly when I decided to be a doctor, but it was some time in high school. My parents thought the “doctor phase” would pass, but it did not. They were of course proud of me for working hard in school, making good grades and having high ambitions, but they didn’t think medicine was a good career choice for a woman, especially their daughter. They were concerned about the long hours and if I would ever find a husband or have children. They got me a summer job with a friend of theirs who was a pathologist. This was supposed to show me what a mistake I was making. Well, that plan backfired. I loved the job! It was fascinating in every way and I worked there again the next summer.
… And then came high school. Our class composition changed as we acquired new basketball stars, violin prodigies, and even debaters. Most of us were in for a huge surprise – going from almost never studying for tests in middle school to doing hours and hours of homework per night was a dramatic change. Somehow we’ve managed to struggle through it – we’ve acquired a healthy work ethic, we’ve learned how to effectively communicate in research papers, we’ve managed to survive APUSH. But actually, we haven’t just “struggled through” it – we’ve managed to be immensely successful while balancing our academic life with our social lives and our wide-ranging extracurriculars. We have all found a way to succeed at one of the most challenging schools in the country.
When I was a senior at Victoria High School. we did not have anything like the Kinkaid dean program. In fact we had one guidance counselor for my whole grade of 465 students. His advice to the top students was “College is really hard. You should go to junior college first and then if that goes okay you could think about transferring to a university after a year or two.” Well, I didn’t take that advice. After The University of Texas, I went to Baylor College of Medicine, where “Choose (mentors) I did a rotation in infectious diseases at The Methodist Hospital. It is a specialty that is not wisely and look focused on one organ system but the entire body. The myriad of presentations, the solvfor qualities you ing of mysteries and the potential to really most respect and help people was and is addictive to me. I was want to emulate.” hooked and never looked back...So, I have the following advice for you seniors tonight: Follow your dreams. It is a cliché but that is probably because it is so important. Don’t let anything stand in your way. My guidance counselor was right. College is hard. Challenge yourself and make the most it, but have fun along the way, too. Just as you have had many excellent mentors here at Kinkaid, you will be exposed to people during your college and early professional years that you can look to for guidance and counseling. Choose these people wisely and look for qualities you most respect and want to emulate. Don’t be afraid of hard work. Most things that are truly worthwhile require it. When choosing your major or later your profession, choose what you love, and love what you choose. Remember to call home. When things are great—call home. When things aren’t so great—call home. No one will ever love you like your parents and WE WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU. Congratulations and best of luck to you.
We have a lot of people to thank: first and foremost our parents, who made this opportunity available in the first place; our teachers, who have inspired us in one way or another and are really the drivers behind our education; and our peers – it’s really the entire community of Kinkaid that makes it so amazing… And we’re about to enter a new era of our lives where we’re only going to meet more amazing people like that.. In the next four years we’ll all be attending amazing colleges and universities, free to intellectually pursue whatever we want to…
“We have the responsibility to realize our obligations to society and to look beyond our own individual needs in favor of the greater good.”
No matter what each of us decides to do in the future, we should find success. In this room sit future astronomers, physics majors, chemistry buffs, doctors, businesspeople, lawyers, you name it. There are people here who have absolutely wonderful voices, who are dedicated cheerleaders, some who you’ll probably see on Broadway, and some who are so dedicated to journalism you might see them someday in the New York Times. And it’s because of our hard work and the resources we’ve been afforded that makes it possible for us to pursue literally any interest we want. To be a part of the Cum Laude Society is a tremendous honor, but I personally think that with this honor also comes a tremendous responsibility: to lead. We shouldn’t simply be passive followers for the next few decades – followers are the lemmings that go off the cliff, as opposed to leaders who are visionaries, who are able to deal meaningfully with controversy, and in a democracy can unite people to challenge injustices to create a better future. And we have the responsibility to realize our obligations to society and to look beyond our own individual needs in favor of the greater good… I hope and fully expect that in a few years I’ll see some of you on TV or in the news, curing cancer or even giving speeches in front of Congress. Congratulations to all of you for making it into Cum Laude, and I am honored to be here with you.
CUM LAUDE 2013 Calin Ackerman
Carolyn Louise Dyer
Andrew William Manias
Mustafa Sohail
Dahlgren Diane Baker
Christina Bruni Fondren
Declan Christopher Mawer
Eric Rueyhao Sung
Mirel S. Baysal
Madison Nicole Goeringer
Edith Elizabeth Powers
Carrie Lou Walker
Mallory Elizabeth Burns
Brynn Victoria Harris
George Mitchell Rupprecht Randt
Victoria Mingyi Wang
Ryan Miller Clegg
Marjorie Jacklyn Jacobe
Zachary Cole Rosenthal
David William Warren
Jordan Elizabeth Crawford
Laura Elise Jones
Katie Rose Shaffer
Nicholas Gregory Whalley
Katherine Elizabeth Drews
John Raymond Lewis
Annie Gilmour Sher 33