22 Seniors Inducted Into MKA Cum Laude Society
Congratulations to the 22 seniors from the MKA class of 2018 who were inducted into the Cum Laude Society at a formal ceremony held at the Upper School on Saturday, June 9th. The Cum Laude Society, established in l906, is modeled on the Phi Beta Kappa Collegiate National Honor Society and recognizes the scholastic achievement of secondary school students. It is the highest academic honor bestowed on members of the graduating class.
The keynote speaker of the evening's ceremony was Drew Jennings, a Cum Laude graduate from MKA's Class of 2004. He is currently a Senior Sales Rep on the Cloud/Chrome Enterprise team at Google. After graduating from Dartmouth College, Drew worked for Citigroup, accomplished the amazing feat of hiking the Appalachian Trail from start to finish and began a career at Google in San Francisco. He and his wife are currently enjoying life in Colorado, and Drew eagerly returned to Montclair not only to share his thoughts and experiences with the MKA Cum Laude inductees but also to mark the retirement of his mother, Deborah Jennings, MKA Academic Dean, who is retiring after 34 years.
Drew shared his journey after MKA, highlighting the importance of thinking for oneself. He said to the MKA seniors, "...You already have the maturity and the ability to make decisions and directly influence real life outcomes for yourself! The sooner you realize this - the decisions you make, no matter how scary they may be to you, your advisors, or your loved ones, the happier you will be." Drew defined agency as "a thing or person that acts to produce a particular result" and continued, "The message I want to make sure that you take away today is that AGENCY in the truest sense of the word is the most powerful tool you have in your intellectual and emotional arsenal. You are no longer too young nor too dependent on the nurturing social structures in which you've grown up to wield it." Drew completed his speech by entreating the students to strive for what makes them happy and to never stop the search or the struggle.
The 2018 inductees are: Aashik Bhalodia, Jared Brunner, Charlotte Davison, Nico Espinosa Dice, Sarah Fatkin, Dominic Flocco , Danielle Fuchs, Danielle Golden, Bruce Harvey, Jaclyn Kemly, Ethan Kuhl, Rebecca Picciotto, Judson Potenza, Ryan Ruhl, Rhea Saggi, Evelyn Salehi, Shaurya Salwan, Julia Sanger, Andrew Stahl, Benjamin Stuart, James Tsatsaros, Evelyn Wallace.
Photo by Derek Morf.