Cum Laude inductees at GPS
The Latin phrase Cum Laude translates as “with honor.” As an honorary organization celebrating academic achievement, Cum Laude was founded in 1906, the same year that Girls Preparatory School was born. Induction into Cum Laude at GPS is one of the highest honors a girl can achieve, and as Cum Laude faculty committee member Bryant Haynes said at the 2015 ceremony, each of the eight girls honored “chose her own path and challenged herself in achieving a large measure of academic success.”
Seniors Anjali Chandra, Ragan Foley, April Forsthoffer, Hannah Geerlings, Najia Humayun, Anna Claire Pierce, Nia Sanders, and Hannah Thel were held up as examples of a quote from Louis Pasteur, who said, “…strength lies solely in tenacity.” The students were introduced by faculty members asked to capture the girls’ uniqueness, teachers with whom each girl had developed a bond. Chosen for what is one of the highest honors for a faculty or staff member at GPS were Keith Sanders, Linda Mines, Diane Walker, Callie Hamilton, Jennifer Williams, Caroline Carlin, Laurel Zahrobsky and Katy Berotti.
The presenters quoted Irish writers James Joyce and Dylan Thomas, poets Williams Wordsworth and Maya Angelou, novelist George Orwell and fabulist Aesop to describe the young women as scholars, humanitarians, avid readers, and activists…in the words of one faculty member, “women to watch.” Their focus, grit, humility, bold thinking, wisdom, subtlety, curiosity, and persistence was celebrated in presentations that used musical metaphors, allusions, and paradox.
As one faculty member said, those selected for Cum Laude have seen roadblocks as challenges. Others were recognized for having shared a rich, deep tone with GPS and for working hard to develop “truly informed opinions.”
Although not each girl has made a decision about her college path, they’ve been accepted at schools as varied as Case Western, Georgia Tech, University of Georgia, Brown, Vanderbilt, MIT, Harvard, NYU, Drexel, Stanford, Boston University, Emory, Northwestern, Washington University and Duke.
The girls are scientists, swimmers, servant leaders, musicians and dancers...and GPS will, in the words of a faculty speaker, “treasure what they’ve left behind.”