New Cum Laude Society Members Celebrated for Academic Achievement, Character

Episcopal High School inducted 25 outstanding juniors and seniors into the Cum Laude Society this morning for their academic achievement and contributions to school life.
The Cum Laude Society, a national organization founded in 1906, recognizes juniors and seniors for outstanding scholarship, leadership, and character. This year’s inductees are:

From the Class of 2019: Sol Ahn, Carter Anderson, Maddie Blalock, Natalie Block, Kyndall Donalson, Arden Faires, Juliet Faris, Jett Lyerly, Hunter McGuire, Jahsaiah Moses, Lilly Schmachtenberger, and Lilly Whitner.

From the Class of 2020: Alli Boehm, Claire Boehm, Missy Brandt, Sunny Miller, Cecilia Moore, Tommy Nguyen, Killian Vetter, South Wallace, Cindy Xin, Mike Yang, David Zeng, Karen Zhang, and Scout Zhou.

In comments to the student body, faculty, and parents gathered in Pendleton for the induction ceremony, Esther Kim ’19 praised the new members for their intellectual curiosity and for serving as exemplars of excellence and justice. “The group as a whole can be described as creative, focused, passionate, and entirely motivated,” said Esther, a second-year member of the society.  

Each new Cum Laude member was presented for induction by one of the 13 seniors who joined the society last year: Mark Berry, Shaunjaney Bryan, Barrett Carney, Jerry Chen, Parker Driscoll, Christian Hudspeth, Esther Kim, Ben Korkowski, Olivia Morton, Katherine Schwartz, Harry Shi, Gray Shiverick, and Olivia Tucker.

After the new members were presented, Daniel Porterfield, a nationally renown policy leader, addressed the gathering. Porterfield is president of the Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization in Washington, D.C. He is also a former president of Franklin and Marshall College.

Porterfield talked about what he learned about education during his work years ago teaching literature to inmates at a maximum-security prison. Isolated and often facing decades in jail, his students eagerly took up the analysis of such classics as “King Lear” and The Invisible Man.  “Each of us has the power — no matter what circumstance we may be in — to create the education that we seek,” Porterfield said.

He urged students to seize the opportunities to learn afforded them. “Wherever you go to college — and there are many great colleges — you can create the education you seek. All you have to do is will yourself to do it, with active endeavor. Just commit yourself to learning and growing and getting after it.”

Watch the complete ceremony, including the presentation of students and Porterfield’s full remarks, on our LocalLive channel. Registration is free and can be done fairly quickly.

Photos from the service and the reception following are available on our Maroon & Black Flickr channel.
 
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