2015 Cum Laude Society

Twenty-six members of the class of 2015 were inducted into the Cum Laude Society on Thursday evening, May 21. Following an introduction by Head of School Barbara Riley, and a history of the Cum Laude Society by Dean of Academics David Harpin, guest speaker Vincent Granata ’05 spoke to the students and their families. The Cum Laude Society has the tradition of inviting a Cum Laude member from 10 years ago to return to speak to the new inductees.  Read Vince Granata’s bio below.

Video of the ceremony is available in the attached gallery.

Class of 2015 Cum Laude Society
Antonia Rose Ayres-Brown
Lucy Williams Berman
Samuel Pinzka Berry
Evan Zoltan Carlson
Matthew Leon Dailis
Raffaella Sweet Donatich
Bridget Nicole Donovan
Sanjay Dureseti
Rose Etzel
Stephanie Rose Gidicsin
Jason Sam Hagani
Zachary Abraham Kaplan
Rachel Bernstein Kaufman
Ben N. Koleske
Karina Eileen Korsh
Athena Elizabeth Mayor
Christopher Anand Miller
Kamsiyochukwu C.A. Nwangwu
Jacob Raymond Pierce
Daniel Elliot Pollak
David William Proctor
Leah Anne Salzano
Walker Schulte Schneider
Sarah Anne Srivichitranond
Bret Hansen Stepanek
Hannah Xu



Vincent Granata, Class of 2005

I've taught 9th and 10th grade English at Newton Country Day School (small private high school outside of Boston) for the last five years. I've also coached rowing and basketball and helped run the school's literary journal. I graduated from Yale in 2009 graduated with distinction and a degree in history (with a heavy dose of English…) and rowed four years of varsity heavyweight crew.

At Hopkins I won the Brown book award my junior year and the Elizabeth Lewis Day creative writing prize my senior year as well as the Robert Wyatt award for perseverance in sports. I wouldn't say that it's true that I've served as a master teacher for Isabel…(Isabel Ruane, she was my siblings year - 2010) but she has shadowed my advisory group this year.

I will be attending American University's fiction writing MFA program in the fall. So I will be leaving high school teaching for at least the near future, but not teaching in general as a big part of the program involves serving as a TA for their undergrad writing courses.

The Cum Laude Society
An association of 382 chapters, approximately two dozen of which are located in public schools and the rest in independent schools in the United States, the Philippines, Puerto Rico, Canada, England, France and Spain. Some 4,000 new student members are inducted annually.

A Brief History
Founded in 1906, the Cum Laude Society is dedicated to honoring scholastic achievement in secondary schools. The founders of the society modeled Cum Laude after Phi Beta Kappa and in the years since its founding, Cum Laude has grown to 382 chapters, approximately two dozen of which are located in public schools and the rest in Independent schools. Membership is predominantly in the United States, but chapters also are located in Canada, England, France, Spain, Puerto Rico and the Philippines.

The Cum Laude logo
Originally named the Alpha Delta Tau fraternity, The Cum Laude Society adopted a stylized version of the Greek letter Tau ( t ) as its logo. Even though the fraternity evolved into the Cum Laude Society in the 1950's, the original logo was retained. It is used on all official publications and on Cum Laude pins to this day. The Greek alphabet developed in classical times (around the 9th century BC) and continues to be used for a variety of other purposes such as mathematical symbols and names of stars. Tau is the 19th letter of the Greek alphabet.