Marvelwood celebates its 58th Annual Commencement

The Marvelwood School celebrated its 58th Commencement exercises on Saturday, May 28th, with 59 students receiving diplomas, seven with Honors and three with High Honors. The graduates represented nine countries and eight states; seven have been inducted into the National Honor Society. For the first time in Marvelwood's history, four students were named top scholars. Margaret Everett of Kent, CT and Erin Hussey of Brookline, MA were Co-Valedictorians, and Hannah Bocker of Lagrangeville, NY and Xuenan ‘Lexie’ Chen of Tianjin, China were Co-Salutatorians. All four young women had a GPA of 4.3, separated by mere hundredths of a point.

Angela Eastwick ‘02, owner and operator of Juju Tours in Jamaica and founder of the Good Juju Charity Project which supports local communities and schools, told the graduates, 'Your heart will never steer you wrong, even if it turns out differently than you expected. Don’t rush and deprive yourself of the journey, because it’s the best part. I am absolutely confident Marvelwood has given you all the tools to find your true purpose throughout your own journeys.'

The School's four top prizes were awarded at graduation: The Johnson Cup for 'the most substantial progress in personal growth' went to Mark Barbaro of Kent; The Bodkin Award for 'positive and enthusiastic love of school' went to Joseph Pelaggi of Shelton, The Wittenberg Cup for 'conspicuous excellence in all areas of school life, scholarship, athletics, residential life and extra-curricular activities went to Margaret Everett of Kent, and The Headmaster's Cup for 'inspirational strength of character' was shared by Hannah Bocker of Langrangeville, Jinjing Xu of Beijing, and Tong Yu of Shenzhen, China. Other award were presented at Prize Day on Friday, May 27th. A complete list of awards and recognitions in available in the 'Honor Rolls & Awards' folder on our website: http://www.marvelwood.org/parents

The Class of 2016 had a total of 195 college and university acceptances, and will matriculate to a broad range of schools, including Babson College, Binghamton University, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, The George Washington University, University of Rochester, University of Virginia, Wesleyan University and Wheaton College.

Local graduates include Mark Barbaro, Margaret Everett, Kristin Field of Newburgh, Gabriella Martinez and Tanin Mauri of Kent, Hannah Bocker of Lagrangeville, Emma Devanny of New Fairfield, Zoe Hopper of Falls Village, Lauren Janecek of Dover Plains, Tallulah Kassell of Millbrook, Danielle Nappi and Erin Muncey of Wingdale, Hannah Noto of Sherman, Lindsey Wainwright of New Milford, and Jacob Renkert of Norfolk.