Early Cum Laude Honors 19 Seniors

Early Cum LaudeOishi BanerjeeJulie BecherEva BorgwardtLeigh Marie BraswellThomas ClarkJennifer DiPietroChinedum EgbosimbaEve FriedlandAlice JuYeji JungChung Eun LeeRohan PavuluriNikhil RamanStewart ScottHansen ShiMilton SyedAlexandre TrudeauDianyu WangFlora Wang

With their cumulative GPAs representing the top five percent of the senior class, 19 students were chosen to be inducted early into the Cum Laude Society. The students were notified of the decision Friday.According to math instructor Jeffrey Ibbotson, the president of the Phillips Exeter chapter of the society, the committee discusses the students eligible for induction—those who are in the top five per cent of the class—and makes a final decision. The committee has veto power in the case that they believe a student with a qualifying GPA should not be inducted, although Ibbotson said that the committee has not utilized this power during his tenure.The Cum Laude Society, founded in 1906, has 382 branches around the world, and “is dedicated to honoring scholastic achievement in secondary schools,” according to the Society’s website.Students are elected into the Society in two batches, one in the fall and one in the spring. In the spring, the committee also considers GPAs from the spring term. Part of the purpose of having early selections is so that Ibbotson, who selects speakers for both induction ceremonies, can find a parent of one of the early inducted students to speak at the spring ceremony. In addition, students who are selected early can also put the achievement on their college applications.Ibbotson said he was impressed with the high achievement of the students who were selected.“It’s kind of remarkable to look at the grades that people have actually achieved, knowing how difficult this place is, knowing how much homework it assigns, how difficult courses are,” Ibbotson said. “It’s really a tribute to them, that they were able to achieve GPAs that high.”The speaker for the early induction ceremony Nov. 10 will be history instructor Michael Golay. Students typically ask a faculty member who has inspired or mentored them to accompany them to the ceremony. Golay has gone as a guest multiple times, most recently in 2011, and always enjoys the event.“I haven't sketched out the talk yet, but in a general way I'll be speaking about sources of inspiration, animate ones, including some people who might be in the room that night, and more and inanimate ones too: books, pictures, music, invisible friends,” Golay said. “I haven't seen the list of early inductees, but one thing always stands out: those who qualify are smart, committed and well-rounded academically and intellectually. It's an impressive thing to make the cut and I think it's right to recognize this form of excellence.”The tradition of bringing a guest to the ceremony offers students a chance to thank those who have helped them through their time at Exeter.“I genuinely believe that I've gotten to this point only because I've had the most supportive and generous friends and mentors anybody on this campus could ask for,” senior Rohan Pavuluri, who was selected, said.Senior Thomas Clark received the letter notifying him of his early Cum Laude selection and a math test, marked with a 69 percent, at the same time. “I was equally surprised at both,” Clark said.Some of the selected students have mixed feelings about the tradition. Senior Eve Friedland, who received the early honor, thinks that the Society merely reinforces the competitive environment at Exeter.“I don't want to be the smartest person in my grade, I want to be the happiest,” Friedland said. “Exeter's such a competitive place, and I often feel insignificant compared to the people around me, based on grades and talents. The way that I deal with that is by not sharing my grades with people and not measuring myself up to them, because if I did that then everything that I try to do would feel less meaningful. When people see me, I don't want them to see someone who gets the best score on tests or knows the most, because I'm absolutely not.”Clark said that the method of selection can misrepresent the achievements of those selected.“I think there is an innate conflict between that and an honor like Early Cum that is based purely on an unweighted GPA at a school like Exeter with a huge range of course offerings of different difficulties,” Clark said. “It's certainly true that Early Cum is prestigious, but it also gives a false impression that the recipients have worked harder or have more academic merit than non-recipients, which is outright false.”