2018 Cum Laude Society hears from Joseph Schottenfeld '08

 

Twenty-six members of the class of 2018 were inducted into the Cum Laude Society on Thursday evening, May 17. Following an introduction by Head of School Kai Bynum, and a history of the Cum Laude Society by Dean of Academics David Harpin, guest speaker Joseph Schottenfeld ’08 spoke to the students and their families about his journey after Hopkins. He shared three stories, one personal, one borrowed from his sister Mila Rostain ’13, and another of a Tajikistan migrant, all highlighting how imagination can be a tool of rebellion and self-discovery, leading you on your path. 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. Please read Joe’s bio below.

Three inductees, Josh Ip, Alex Kane and Helena Lyng-Olsen, joined the ceremony remotely via video chat while they were traveling with the Science Olympiad team for nationals.

Cum Laude Class of 2018
Kieran Lewis Anderson
Jeffrey Winston Basta
Alexandra Rachel Blitzer
Abigail Gi-Fen Chow
David William Darrow
Samantha Paige Dies
Clara Lynn Everett
Sonoe Elizabeth Fitzsimonds
Joshua Michael Goldstein
Madison Howard
Joshua Kieran Ip
Alexander Braude Kane
Emily Kate Gertrude Lawson
Helena Cecilie Lyng-Olsen
Lucio Valerio Moscarini
Maxwell Gehrig Reiferson
Elijah Charles Bazelon Sabin
Phillip Robert Schmitt
Christian Allan Copland Sherk
Julia Isabel Silbert
Abir Singh
Dylan Burnam Sloan
Sophia Anna Vranos
Mark Liu Xu
Kristina Yarovinsky
Emily Chyi Yin

Joseph Schottenfeld ’08
Joe is a second-year law student at Yale Law School, where he focuses on international and national security law and is a Herbert Hansell Fellow in the Center for Global Legal Challenges. Before law school, he was a National Geographic Young Explorer and a visiting fellow at the University of Central Asia in Tajikistan. He interviewed and built case studies of returned Tajik labor migrants. As a recipient of a grant from the Pulitzer center for crisis reporting, he traveled from Tajikistan to Russia by train with a British war reportage illustrator and filmmaker to document journeys to Russia in the midst of the Russian economic downturn. The video they made—“The Labour Train”—was recently released as a New York Times Op-Doc. Prior to his research in Tajikistan, Joe worked at the Department of Defense. He is a 2012 graduate of Yale College.