The 165 members of McCallie School’s Class of 2020 received diplomas on Saturday, during a ceremony held at the school’s Spears Stadium.
The ceremony was delayed from the spring because of the coronavirus pandemic and was held outdoors with restricted numbers of attendees for the same reason.
The graduates and their families underwent temperature screenings prior to entering campus and were required to wear masks and maintain social distancing throughout the ceremony.
They were presented diplomas by James M. Ruffin ’80, chairman of the board of trustees, Head of School Lee Burns ’87, and other school administrators.
Now the new McCallie alumni will disperse to 82 different colleges in 23 different states and one foreign country. Eighty seven percent have been offered merit, academic, athletic, talent or lottery scholarships to their chosen colleges and universities.
“This is a phenomenal group of young men who have not only withstood but have prevailed over trying conditions,” said Mr. Burns ’97, referring to the fact that this was the first class in McCallie’s 115-year history that had to experience the last months of their high school career away from campus with distance-learning because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The graduates were presented with special face masks which they wore during the ceremony. Mr. Burns used the metaphor of the face masks when addressing the graduates.
“The symbol of 2020 is a mask,” Mr. Burns said. “The masks, of course, help protect you and especially others, but they also hide us, and hinder us. While I want you to wear a literal mask until the pandemic subsides, I don’t want you to wear a figurative mask when you leave McCallie. It’s tempting to give in to the need to be someone else different than who you really area. We can wear masks to hide our true selves, to hide our fears and failings behind a stoic face, to hide emptiness behind achievements, to sacrifice our passions for something more staid. In short, we can lose our authentic selves when we put on masks. We can become a shadow of who God designed us to be, and calls us to be.
“Our masks can also disconnect us from one another. We don’t see each other as well. We see the superficial facades, we see the differences, and we feel freer to mock, to discriminate, to hate, to vilify. We fear. Our masks can keep us from seeing or sensing the soul, our beautiful common humanity as God’s children.”
During the ceremony, Ben McDonough of Franklin, Tn., was recognized as valedictorian for the Class of 2020, and Gus Buck of Jacksonville, Fl., and Matthew Merritt of Bridgeport, Al., were recognized as co-salutatorians. Mr. Buck also was presented the Grayson Medal, the award that is given to the senior who exemplifies the highest standards of scholarship and service. All three of these young men will attend Yale University this fall; in all, five McCallie graduates will attend Yale, the highest number in the school’s history.
In addition, 10 graduates were recognized as Faculty Scholars for their excellent grade point averages throughout their high school career. They are: John Arrowsmith of Flintstone, Ga.; Timothy Brock of Lookout Mountain, Ga.; Jaden Long of Shanghai, China; Reyan Naik of Chattanooga; Denver Oliver of Chattanooga; Shrihari Subramaiam of Ooltewah; William Towbridge, of Charlotte, N.C.; Will Turner of Chattanooga; Jonathan Villegas of Signal Mountain and Derek Wearing of Cookeville, Tn.
Mr. Ruffin, on behalf of the board of trustees, welcomed the graduates as the newest members of McCallie’s Alumni Association.
The impressive college selection list was cited as one of many accomplishments of the Class of 2020.
“The college selection of this year’s class represents the diversity of the class as well as their high standards and achievements,” said Jeff Kurtzman, Director of College Counseling. “McCallie students feel comfortable choosing the school that fits them best – whether nearby or across the country.”
This year, McCallie had a 20 percent acceptance rate to Ivy League schools, compared to a national average of six percent.
Likewise, the acceptance rate of McCallie students to the nation’s top liberal arts colleges was 50 percent, compared to a national average of 18 percent, and a 90 percent acceptance rate to popular private Southern colleges and universities, compared to a national average of 62 percent. 17 members of the Class of 2020 will continue their athletic careers in college playing baseball, cross-country, football, lacrosse, swimming, soccer, and tennis at all three division levels of play.