COMMENCEMENT
Cum Laude Inducts Nine Ceremony Recognizes Fellowship of Scholars
Sarah Holzschuh
Her love of literature brought her back to Greenwich Academy as an English teacher, where she continues to make a life of reading the words of “other, smarter people”— and in turn makes smarter people of her colleagues and students alike. On Sarah Holzschuh, English Teacher and Cum Laude Ceremony speaker
Front: Molly King, Charlotte Winkler, Alina Maki, Lizzie Sands, Serena Profaci, Morgan Sorbaro, Phoebe Bloom, Claudia Portugal, Olivia Winn, Jim Fout Back: Sarah Holzschuh, Alexa Murray, Caroline Dunn, Kathleen Reynolds, Alexa Beeson, Jordan Smith, Amy Cass, Ellie Garland, Tom Sullivan
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The Upper School—and some proud parents—gathered on Tuesday, March 1, for the annual Cum Laude induction ceremony. Greenwich Academy’s Cum Laude chapter, founded in 1977, recognizes scholars in the top 20% of the class. The seven members of the Class of 2016 who were inducted last spring returned to the stage in Massey Theater, and the names of nine additional seniors were read as they received their certificates to great applause. Dr. Jim Fout, Upper School science and history teacher and secretary of GA’s Cum Laude chapter, welcomed the new members to this “fellowship of scholars” and charged them with the “honor and responsibility” of becoming lifelong learners. Dr. Fout introduced colleague and alumna Sarah Holzschuh, and shared teachers’ remembrances of Ms. Holzschuh from her Middle and Upper School years at Greenwich Academy. Ms. Holzschuh, Class of 2006 and current Upper School English teacher and director of community service, then delivered the Cum Laude speech, upholding the tradition of having a 10-year alumna address the gathered assembly. Ms. Holzschuh spoke of her own career path after graduating from Georgetown, one that involved a glamorous public relations job in New York City—which left her miserable. With a refrain of seeking out the words of “other, smarter people,” she described a life of “leaning on literature”—and the comfort and guidance it provides her—as she quoted from the works of T.S. Eliot, Mary Oliver, Adrienne Rich, Ellen Bass and Jay Z, among others. She eventually gave herself permission to start over, and her love of literature brought her back to Greenwich Academy as an English teacher, where she continues to make a life of reading the words of “other, smarter people”—and in turn makes smarter people of her colleagues and students alike.
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