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pper School seniors chosen for the honorary Dwight-Englewood School Chapter of the Cum Laude Society were recognized at a special induction ceremony in April. The Cum Laude Society is the most prestigious membership organization for independent school students nationwide; DwightEnglewood faculty, staff, and students’ families and friends were in attendance for the event, held in Hajjar Auditorium. The mission of Cum Laude is “to recognize
academic achievement in secondary schools for the purpose of promoting excellence (Areté), justice (Diké) and honor (Timé).” Peter Bograd, D-E’s Cum Laude chapter president and a D-E faculty member, notes, “These students are exceptional examples of young men and women who practice these values every day, in the classroom, in their activities, and in their communities.” In addition to personal remarks from D-E faculty and administrative staff members about each of the student honorees, the Cum Laude Dinner this year featured a speech by alumna Royce Caitlin Abrams ’06, the retail manager for the prestigious skincare line Kiehl’s, owned by L’Oreal.
Congratulations to the newest members of D-E’s Cum Laude Society! These exceptional seniors from the Class of 2015 were each recognized by a favorite teacher during the annual dinner held in Hajjar Auditorium.
Congratulations to The Class of 2015 Cum Laude Society Inductees Shereen Al-Sawwaf Toren Arginteanu Julia Bront Andre Festekjian George Nabil Georges Nikita Prem Jain India Belfield June Kee Hoon Lee Isabel Pannell Levin David V. Lysenko Alexis Mayer Lisa Mordkovich Rushy Panchal Spencer Shattuck Papay Matthew Petti Laura E. Prisament Naomi Shi Julia Shin Larry D. Suprun Joshua Swerdlow Mariam Sajid Syed Shitian Wang Clement Hau-Man Wong Simeng Wu Brian Zhang
Abrams reflected on her own induction into the Cum Laude Society and her memories of being one of Ms. Betsey Carson’s “Tough Cookies,” of learning to play lacrosse, and of being named captain of the varsity team for her senior year. A graduate of the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Abrams noted, “When I arrived at college, many students did not understand time management. To my surprise, I was thankful for the workload I had at Dwight, as I was able to manage my work better than most students at Penn.” During her senior year at Penn, she was invited to become the first intern for a new business—what would become the highly successful Warby Parker eyeglasses online retailer. Upon graduation from Penn, she took a full-time job with the start-up, ultimately creating the company’s original retail strategy, from opening its first showroom and serving as the first retail associate to opening the first brick and mortar store (and then five others). Abrams’ advice to Cum Laude members included “set your own goals and standards. If you’ve worked hard enough to be inducted into DwightEnglewood’s Cum Laude Society, you can achieve whatever you want to.”
Matt Waltman ’16 Wins “Profile in Courage” Essay Contest
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atthew Waltman ’16 has won the 2015 National John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest for High School Students, beating 1,913 students who entered from all 50 states and Washington, DC. The contest encourages students to write about an act of political courage by a US elected official and is named for Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning book, Profiles in Courage.
Matthew Waltman ’16 won the 2015 National John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Essay Contest for High School Students, beating 1,913 students who entered from all 50 states and Washington, DC.
Matthew was encouraged to submit by older sister Emily, a current sophomore at Stanford University who was a finalist in the 2012 Profile in Courage contest as a junior at Tenafly High School. He explained that one of the issues discussed during his Current Events course last fall was immigration reform: “I decided I wanted to tell the story of a politician who took a courageous stance on immigration reform, which led me to Tom Selders.” The former mayor of Greeley, Colorado, Selders is a Republican whose “refusal to ‘compromise away his principles’ on immigration cost him the [November 2007] election,” as Matthew wrote. Matthew was honored at the ceremony at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston in May, also attended by his nominating teacher, Upper School English faculty member John Deal, and essay subject, Mayor Selders. He was also awarded $10,000 for his essay, while Deal received a $500 John F. Kennedy Public Service Grant for school projects that encourage student leadership and civic engagement. Matthew, who hopes to major in history in college, will be spending his summer as a peer mentor for the International Rescue Committee’s Refugee Youth Summer Academy in New York City, which assists newly arrived refugee youth and prepares them to succeed in the New York City public schools.
Spring–Summer 2015
Cum Laude Society Welcomes Class of 2015 Inductees
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