Early Cum Laude Inductees Celebrated

By LOGAN BECKERLE, CARLY CANSECO, KAYLEE GONG, and HANNA WEI

On Thursday, Nov. 7, the latest Exonian issue was published and handed out in the Agora. With its bright colors and small text, the front page caught the eyes of many. Beneath the announcement of the newly elected 47th President of the United States was a large maroon box labeled: Early Cum Laude ‘25 Inductees Announced. As loose newspaper pages ruffled, the news spread quickly across campus about who the top 5% seniors grade-wise were.

These 17 seniors were Rima Alsheikh, Steven Chen, Mason Cotter, Meredith Habstritt, Claire Han, William Ho, Finn Lorgen, Jannah Maguire, Lexi Meyer, Dhruv Nagarajan, Roxane Park, Jaansi Patel, Eli Pratt, Stella Song, Kamara Williams, King-Diorr Willsun, and Shiqiao Zhang.

Recipient Claire Han explained how she heard the news of her early induction into the Cum Laude Society: “I didn’t even know I got the award until one of my friends randomly congratulated me on the path!” 

She continued by describing her initial feelings, saying, “I’m honored and a little shocked with myself because I always questioned if I could handle the stress throughout my underclassmen years.”

Inductee Steven Chen shared a similar story. “About half an hour before they sent out the email, I forgot the login to one of my Exeter portals and so I had to reset my password through IT. I had everything set up again on my computer, but not on my phone. I was playing tennis when they released the email at 2 p.m. that day, and because I hadn’t relogged into Outlook on the phone, I didn’t get an email notification at all,” he said.

“How I found out was that two other classmates of mine who also got it immediately texted me wishing me congratulations,” Chen continued. “I think that just goes to show that even in a place like Exeter that people typically view as extremely academically competitive, there is still a lot of kindness and non sibi spirit among the student body.”

The journey to senior fall has been a long one for many, and it’s easy for onlookers to question the sacrifices that had to be made. Conspiracies of having no sleep, no socializing, or no life echo down hallways, and many even view such high academic achievements as unattainable. It’s easy to hear comments on how you can’t accomplish all four S’s—school, sleep, sports, and social life—at the same time. 

However, Chen disagreed. Although he originally believed in a rule along the same lines, he realized throughout his Exeter journey that there was a deeper relationship between those aspects of life. “I’ve found that the fulfillment I find in the different realms of my life (sports, school, sleep, and social as described here) all correlate very strongly with each other,” he said. “In other words, if I’m not getting enough sleep, my tennis performance, grades, and social life all suffer. On the other hand, spending a lot of time with my friends often gives me the mental break I need to refocus on my English essay or math homework. So in that sense, I think they do actually go hand in hand for me, and I’ve never really had to choose one to sacrifice for the others.”

Lexi Meyer, another fellow inductee, elaborated further. Sometimes she understands that you have to prioritize certain aspects over the other, but the aspect she recommends the most is one that many students disregard completely. “Sleep. Get sleep. Like seriously, just go to sleep. You’ll do so much better in every aspect of your life if you get sleep, be those aspects athletic, academic, social; it does not matter. You’re just more prepared,” she advised younger students. 

Meyer continued with an emphasis on the benefit sleep brings to productivity: “I would certainly rather get eight hours of sleep because I tend to be more efficient. It makes it a lot easier for me to then just speed through my homework, be able to do everything, and work my best.”

King-Diorr Willsun, another recipient, shared his thoughts, saying, “I have to say for three of those S’s I think it’s definitely balanceable … I think Finn Lorgen would be a great example of balancing all four S’s. I know that he has a generally good social life. I’m pretty sure that his sleeping habits are pretty good etc. He’s just a generally good person, and he is doing it while balancing practices with basketball and rowing.”

Although these seniors have received jaw-dropping grades and simultaneously excelled in extracurricular commitments, Meyer wants to clarify it was not a linear path to success. Reflecting back to her prep days, Meyer admitted, “I was terrified that I wouldn’t be able to do everything that I wanted to do because there’s so many competitive people here who are amazing at what they do. So I was like, ‘Can I compare?’ However, I think by naturally doing what felt right for me, I didn’t have to put in extra effort. I had to try of course, but I didn’t have to feel like I was competing with other people. It was me against myself.” 

In addition, Meyer mentioned her upper spring term as a challenge. “I kind of just got punched in the gut with all of that work, but I ended up making it through,” she said. “You know what, it worked out in the end, and that’s what matters.” 

Perseverance and determination is a common theme amongst recipients of this award and Willsun spoke about his strategies to help make his work just a little easier. “It will help you if you believe that there actually is a solution when you’re doing a math question that makes no sense,” Willsun said. “At least think to yourself, ‘this is rational,’ or if you’re doing a writing assignment that seems impossible, think that you can push through and maybe listen to some music on your headphones, sit by yourself in the library, or say to yourself that even though this is going to be very tedious and very challenging that I’m going to be able to finish this. I think those skills will help you do better in classes.”

Chen offered his insights into cracking hard assignments. “I think one tip for everything is just to do your work early rather than late. Once you get in a habit of starting Monday’s homework on Sunday morning (instead of night), or even just looking at your homework assignments before check-in on weekdays, things will start flowing a lot smoother. Same thing also applies to studying for tests and writing papers.” 

“For math and science classes, understanding problems conceptually has been really helpful for me,” Chen continued. “Doing homework problems can only take you so far, and I think going just one level deeper into where formulas can be used and why can help a lot for tests and quizzes.”

As Exonians, it’s easy for all of us to obsess over that one grade or sacrifice everything for an A. We all hope to be in the top 5% of our grade or be the best athlete, but to truly succeed at all aspects of life, Meyer pointed out, “Do the things that you love. If you hate something, you are not gonna put enough effort. If everyone has that same mindset of just doing it for college, it won’t work.”