Congratulations to New Cum Laude Members!

We all know her as one of the most dynamic publicists Country Day has ever known, but there is so much more to our first senior inductee. Anyone you ask will call her the epitome of the scholar, artist, athlete of character that Country Day celebrates. She is not only a brilliant student but also a varsity softball and tennis star, the MC of Coffee with a Cause, a Madrigal with a beautiful voice who will be playing one of the stepsisters in the Country Day production of “Cinderella,” a member of the Spanish Honor Society, an inspiring teacher on our Dominican Republic trip, and an ever-present community servant at our school events.

 

Our second inductee prides himself on being fast and efficient with his work, qualities that allow him time to excel in all sorts of activities and to give back to his community. He is a member of the Spanish Honor Society, serves on the Ethics Council, tutors fellow students in our peer tutoring program, and may be better known by his younger Country Day peers as the Donald…playing the role of Donald Trump at our mock Republican debate. This two-time CIF champion in tennis also started an organization called Second Hand Tennis through which he collects used tennis gear that he then donates to local schools and charities.

 

An aspiring future lawyer, our next inductee is an attorney who solidifies this year’s Mock Trial team with a strong focused approach behind an understated demeanor. He effectively lulls the opponent into a state of comfort before his goes in for the kill. He worked as an intern at a local law firm over the summer, has played four years of varsity tennis, and serves as a Country Day student ambassador and peer leader. He also finds time to tutor students through the youth group at his church.

The next inductee won this year’s Shakespeare contest with her witty portrayal of Beatrice from “Much Ado about Nothing.”  She will also be performing the role of Olivia in our production of “Twelfth Night” and has performed countless roles in other Country Day productions including Olive’s mother in Putnam County Spelling Bee, and will be the Fairy Godmother this spring in “Cinderella.” Of course no one will forget her tour de force monologue as Andromache in The “Trojan Women: A Love Story.”  An aspiring writer, she spent three weeks in a creative writing course at Columbia over the summer and has been a contributor to our own literary magazine, Pegasus.  Another scholar, artist, athlete of character, she has also competed as a varsity tennis player throughout her high school career.  

This next young lady has a passion for a variety of intellectual pursuits.  She has a great engineering mind with an innate desire to know how things work, which may explain how she has been such a significant contributor to the design of the robotics team robot in her first year of membership.  It also explains how she was able to medal in one of the toughest events for the Science Olympiad (protein modeling) and medal with the math team that she personally put together to compete in a local competition. In Mock Trial, she embodies her role as an expert witness with her typical spunkiness. In her free time, she writes short stories in collaboration with a writing partner from the Pacific Northwest and is described as one of the deepest thinkers in AP literature this year. She also took up golf and swimming in high school as if she does not already have enough on her plate.

 

This provincial chess champion of Canada moved to San Diego to do much more than just start the La Jolla Country Day Chess Club. He makes his impact felt every day combining his disarming smile and charm with his humble intellect as he helps his fellow students to achieve greater success in the classroom. Not only is he a peer leader and in charge of the peer tutoring program at Country Day, but he also traveled with Mrs. Nordenger to Ghana over the summer to help build a computer lab for a local school there. In addition, he volunteers on the surgery floor at Scripps Hospital, building connections with patients to help them feel more at ease prior to surgery.  This member of the French Honor society seems destined to make his mark on the world as a teacher or doctor, or both.

 

The motto scholar, artist, athlete of character keeps coming to mind, and it applies as well to this next lifer inductee. She is an avid reader, a member of the Spanish Honor Society, and an excellent mathematician.  She is also a three-sport athlete, competing in golf, soccer and track and as an artist, she won our Ceramics award for excellence in the visual and performing arts.  As a member of Community Service Board, this young lady takes the initiative to support every project she can and is particularly involved with the San Diego Food Bank, Surfrider and the International Rescue Committee, which provides aid to refugees.  

 

Our next inductee is the epitome of a hard worker and humble giver.  A member of the Spanish Honor Society, she has been known to put together review sessions between events at athletic competitions.  She wrote such a brilliant paper on the world impact of the San Diego Zoo that it was submitted to the San Diego History Center, which were thoroughly impressed.  With the Community Service Board, she was co-leader for Dig for the Cure and led the Senior Prom at Vi Assisted Living.  Selected as an Academic All-American, she is among the best volleyball players ever to compete in Torrey blue and will be competing as a Princeton Tiger next year.  

 

Our next inductee loves to write, and members of the Mock Trial team quickly learned what a sharp-witted actor he is.  He served as an expert art forgery witness, and at the end of every round, the scoring judges were convinced that he was indeed an expert.  This member of the Spanish Honor Society is also actively involved with Teen Volunteers in Action, through which he participates in various community service projects. He was also an awesome classroom English teacher in the Dominican Republic. He is passionate about his boxing and has been the co-leader in bringing men’s volleyball to Country Day.

A determined, resilient and tenacious fighter of a young lady, setbacks are only bumps in the road from which she comes back stronger than ever before.  This tenacity is true of her dancing, which math teacher John Edman has witnessed first-hand in linear algebra, where she will not be obstructed in mastering even the most challenging of concepts.  This peer leader and lifer is not just masterful in the classroom but also on the stage. The San Diego Ballet cast her as Clara in the Nutcracker, and Country Day has seen her play the lead Marcy Park, the overachieving speller, in the “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” and she will play Cinderella this spring. In the summer, she offers her services as a camp counselor at a kids camp in Texas.

 

Fluent in Hebrew and French, our next inductee might be heard singing French songs if you time your chance meeting just right. Her teachers all agree that she fully immerses herself in all that she does, seeming to have a passion for everything. She is a three-year member of Community Service Board who has proven to be a particularly effective teacher on service trips to the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. She is also an aspiring physician, and it would not be surprising to see her use her teaching acumen to instruct fellow future physicians.  She is a real leader with the cross country team, who seeks to bring the team closer with every event she plans or attends.  She also enjoys crocheting in her spare time.  

 

Our next inductee took on all the programming for robotics as the team had to make the big transition to programming in java on android phones. He is also quickly motoring through the yearlong programming assignment in linear algebra, taking time periodically to assist some of his classmates. While his work and ability are both incredible, he remains very understated and humble.  All the while, he has been a competitor for a very good Country Day tennis team and a key competitor with our Science Olympiad team.

 

Most likely to be confused for a professor.  Most likely to lead a revolution one day.  Most likely to use words in a sentence that not even his teacher is familiar with. He is a secret poet who listens to jazz and classical music, and has a passion for history. He is an avid reader, strong writer and even stronger debater with rational arguments to back everything he says.  As you might expect, he serves as editor-in-chief of the Palette, our school newspaper.  He loves to learn for learning’s sake, is a member of the Mandarin Honor Society and enjoys Taiko drumming.

The first junior inductee is an enthusiastic student of Shakespeare and a key member of the Mock Trial team. She is the lead prosecution attorney other teams do not want to face, for she goes above and beyond in her preparation and her performance. She carries this same attitude to her classes, displaying an intrinsic enthusiasm for learning, regardless of the challenges. She is multilingual, studying both French and Spanish at a high level, and she also recently attended the Student Diversity Leadership Conference. Her teachers call her a well-informed, true thinker who has one of the strongest voices on campus.

 

Our next inductee balances her time outside the classroom among sports, singing and service. She is about to start her third season of lacrosse, and she also ran cross country for two years. She is a Madrigal this year and also sang in the concert choir for two years. This is her second year on the Community Service Board, and she is also very active in the National Charity League. She helped connect Country Day with the Ronald McDonald House, and has helped organize two stuffed animal collections for them. Just last week she was a key organizer of Coffee for a Cause.

 

Our next inductee is a barista, a rock climber, and sometimes a feisty presidential candidate from Vermont. His interest in politics has led him to intern for Barbara Bry’s campaign for city council, and this summer he will intern for Colorado congressman and distinguished Country Day alumnus Jared Polis ’93. This inductee is a member of the Mandarin Honor Society as well as the leader of the Spectrum and People of Color clubs. He is also an outspoken advocate for LGBTQ+ issues, and in this role, has had a transformative effect on our school. Few are as self-motivated or engaged.

 

Our next inductee is a multisport athlete who plays football, surfs and is the captain of the golf team. His coach says that he is a great teammate and the type of leader who takes initiative and responsibility. He is also a two-year member of the Community Service Board who matches creativity to his dedication. He documented and created the video for last year’s Dominican trip, and is co-leading this year’s Finish Chelsea’s Run team. This inductee is also the leader of the Business Club and participates in the Young Entrepreneurs program at the Rady School of Management. Ask him about Nalu Surf Wax and H2NO.

Our next inductee is as much a performer as she is a student. She has danced competitively for many years, she sang in the concert choir and is now a Madrigal, and she is a top-notch pianist who often provides accompaniment to the Madrigals during rehearsals. She is in the Mandarin Honor Society and was an enthusiastic member of the Dominican Republic trip last year. She is also a talented runner who ran out of time to run cross country or track after her freshman year, which speaks to her commitment to her many other interests. She brings focus, determination and her bright smile to everything she does.

 

Of this next inductee, one teacher said, “He is an introvert and shy, but his mind is loud.” This appears to be an apt description, for all of his teachers find him to be a quiet but powerful presence in class. He is a strong writer in two languages—English and Spanish—as well as a student who perseveres and goes the extra mile. In Trivium this year, he aced Dr. Rappaport’s grammar test, despite entering the class late and needing to learn the material largely on his own. Though his brilliance is of the quiet kind, he is an astute and thoughtful scholar.

 

Performing and service are the driving forces for our next inductee. He has been involved with student plays for all three years and is a Madrigal this year after two years of choir. This year, he is a witness for the Mock Trial team, where Mr. Shulman reports that he is making good use of his drama and improv skills. This inductee has been on the Community Service Board the last two years and is a key member of the Walk for Water organizing committee. He has logged many miles with Ms. Nordenger in the name of service, traveling to Ghana, the Dominican Republic and Nicaragua. Closer to home, his teachers are impressed by his humility and by his always being willing to help others with their work.

 

Our next inductee is in her third year of Mock Trial, an attorney known for taking on challenging roles. Last year, she was a member of the Community Service Board, as well as an energetic member of the Dominican trip. She represents the junior class as its vice president, and she played ultimate frisbee this fall after two years as a cheerleader. This inductee also volunteers in Labor and Delivery at Scripps. Somehow she also finds time for equestrian vaulting. This means she performs acrobatic maneuvers while on a moving horse. The fearlessness and dedication it must take to do this certainly help explain how confident and hardworking she is in the classroom.