22 St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School Seniors Inducted into the Cum Laude Society

22 St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School Seniors Inducted into the Cum Laude Society; 3 Merit Scholar Finalists Announced

By Mary Wadland

ALEXANDRIA,VA-Twenty-two seniors were inducted as new members of the St. Stephen’s and St. Agnes School chapter of the Cum Laude Society during a ceremony on April 26. The Cum Laude Society recognizes academic achievement in secondary schools for the purpose of promoting excellence (Areté), justice (Diké), and honor (Timé). Patterned after the college honorary society Phi Beta Kappa, the Cum Laude Society was founded in 1906 and has since grown to 382 chapters, primarily in independent schools, with approximately 24 chapters in public schools.

To be considered for membership in the SSSAS Cum Laude Society, seniors must be in the upper 20 percent of their class and have attained the qualifying grade-point average for three years of secondary school. Juniors who are in the top 10 percent of their class were inducted last June and recognized at the ceremony this month.

Congratulations to the student members:

Class of 2019:

Victoria Kendl Atkinson

Lucas Hunter Bires

Caroline Riley Burnett

Elizabeth Spencer Cady

Christina Marie Cavallo

William Lathrop Clark

Chase M.D. Cohen

Kendall Joy Davis

Patrick Francis Hines

Mary Margaret Lehmkuhler

Alicia Marie Lopez

Makeda Melkie

Kennon Whiting Moon

Abigail Cait Tighe Murray

Evelyn Marie Perfall

Ephraim Noble Reed

Mark Mandeen Repetti

Cameron Robert Sweet

Rahila Samir-Gizi Suleymanov

Helen Allyne Treadway

Caroline “Kitty” Macleod Tyree

Thomas Edward Van Buren

SSSAS also congratulated three members of the class of 2019 who have been recognized as National Merit Scholarship Competition finalists, Chase Cohen, Patrick Hines, and Thomas Van Buren. Over 1.6 million students from more than 22,000 high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test. The highest-scoring entrants nationally qualify as semi-finalists and represent less than 1 percent of America’s high school seniors. The National Merit Scholarship Program has selected less than half of the semi-finalists who met all requirements to advance to finalist standing in the competition.