Sixteen Seniors To Be Inducted Early into Cum Laude Society

Sixteen seniors, whose cumulative GPA’s place them in the top five percent of the Class of 2018, were designated last week as early inductees into the Cum Laude society.

The Cum Laude Society is the national high-school equivalent of the collegiate Phi Beta Kappa society. Both institutions recognize scholarly and academic achievement among outstanding students.

“[I] always tried to keep a healthy perspective; relationships and extracurriculars form an integral part of our school experience as well.”

Instructor of Mathematics and President of the Exeter Cum Laude Branch Jeffrey Ibbotson explained the function of the Society. “The purpose of the Cum Laude Society is to recognize and reward academic achievement,” he said. “It is parallel to the function of the National Honor Society in public schools.”

Senior Peter O’Keefe, one of this year’s early inductees, described his excitement when he discovered he was one of the sixteen. “I was ecstatic when I heard the news. Early Cum is an honor that I, like many Exonians, have hoped to receive,” he said. “It certainly feels good to have your effort rewarded in such a tangible way.” O’Keefe also noted the internal motivation driving some Exonians to strive for early induction. “I do feel that there is pressure to make Early Cum, but it’s a pressure that we mainly put on ourselves,” he said.

Instructor of Mathematics and faculty member on the Exeter Cum Laude Branch Stephanie Girard emphasized that while there might be pressure to succeed, the pressure is not specific to Exeter alone. “At Andover, I’m sure they have the same problems,” she said. “It’s not unique to Exeter. I think seniors everywhere are worrying about grades.”

Ibbotson said  that he did not believe there is a specific pressure among students to be inducted early to the Cum Laude Society. “The only pressure that could be relevant is the pressure to get good grades,” he said. O’Keefe, however, believes that his classmates view Early Cum as a metric of success. “I’ve always seen Early Cum as a way for students to keep score, and that’s unfortunate. There are so many factors that go into raw GPA that a small difference overall is not a reflection of anything,” he said. “I think we tend to take Early Cum too seriously.”

O’Keefe emphasized the importance of engaging in other aspects of life at Exeter, beyond classwork and grades. “I have devoted copious amounts of time into my schoolwork, as many Exonians have. However, I’ve still found plenty of time to do sports and extracurriculars,” he said. “I think I’ve found a good balance between school work and clubs, sports etc. as all the other inductees have.”

Another Early Cum inductee, senior Anna Clark, also discussed the importance of balancing school work and extracurriculars and how through doing so she eventually developed more effective time management skills. “I'm glad to see the work I have put in the past 3 years pay off, but I never worked for the purpose of obtaining Early Cum,” she said. “[I] always tried to keep a healthy perspective; relationships and extracurriculars form an integral part of our school experience as well.”

Early Cum inductee and senior George Matheos also highlighted the importance of a diverse Exeter experience. “Finding a balance between various aspects of life at Exeter is something I've made a conscious effort to achieve throughout my time here, since I think it's very important to be happy,” he said. Matheos also mentioned that although there is not direct pressure for most students to be inducted into the Cum Laude Society, there is a lot of pressure to work hard and receive good grades. “I think some students do feel pressure about it, and I did feel like it was something that would be nice to achieve, but I think that the pressure to get good grades in general is more significant, and the pressure to join the Cum Laude society is merely an extension of that,” he added.

Similarly to O’Keefe, senior and inductee Celeste Wu expressed her excitement when she discovered she was selected for early induction.“I felt proud and happy when I found out about [my induction.] It's some uplifting news amidst the chaos of senior fall,” she said. Wu described her selection as a pleasant surprise and not the end goal. “Getting inducted was more of something that came out on the side; a recognition rather than a motivation,” she said.