Twelve Pennington School seniors were inducted as student members of the school’s chapter of the Cum Laude Society, within the top 10% of their class as determined by grade point average, one of the highest honors the school can confer.
The new members of Cum Laude, named on Oct. 13, are William Bernal, Sophia Cano, Xingrui Chen, Matthew Cooper, Kailey Dierk, Alexander Huang-Menders, Shivant Krishnan, Minghao Li, Rohit Pothacamury, Trinity Pryor, Olivia Schroeder-Positano and Haichuan Wang.
After an invocation from the Rev. David Hallgren, Head of School William Hawkey gave a welcome speech, according to information provided by the school. Teacher of Music Donald Dolan provided information about Cum Laude’s history and motto, and Dean of Academic Affairs Scott Peeler introduced the faculty members in Pennington’s Cum Laude chapter. Nathan Van Yperen, chair of the Religion Department, was the program speaker. Cum Laude Chapter President Lisa L. Houston then formally inducted the students.
The Cum Laude Society is an international organization dedicated to recognizing academic achievement in secondary schools. There are 382 institutions in the society; most are independent schools.
A list of the Cum Laude inductees, arranged by hometown, is as follows:
Hillsborough: Shivant Krishnan
Lawrenceville: Sophia Cano, Matthew Cooper
Pennington: Olivia Schroeder-Positano
Princeton: Alexander Huang-Menders, Rohit Pothacamury
Skillman: William Bernal
Pennsylvania
Newtown: Kailey Dierk
Yardley: Trinity Pryor
CHINA
Beijing: Xingrui Chen, Haichuan Wang
Dalian: Minghao Li
The Pennington School is an independent coeducational school for students in grades 6-12, in both day and boarding programs. The curriculum is college preparatory, with an emphasis on individual excellence, fostering the development of the whole student through academics, athletics, community service, and the creative and performing arts.
