Friends' Central Celebrates Student Achievements

On Friday, May 13, Friends’ Central School held its annual Upper School Academic Awards Ceremony, recognizing students for their outstanding efforts in academics, service, and citizenship. Highlighting the ceremony was the induction of 23 members of the Class of 2016 into the Cum Laude Society.

The Cum Laude Society recognizes the distinguished academic record of students during their Friends’ Central career. In his address to this year’s inductees, Head of School Craig Sellers said that, as members of the Friends’ Central Cum Laude Society, part of their responsibilities is “to make some contribution to the ongoing search for greater understanding of the world in which we live.” The 2016 inductees into the Friends’ Central School Cum Laude Society are: Rucha Alur, Julia Amsterdam, Hannah Anderson, Sarah Beckley, Sydney Cohen, Caroline Fakharzadeh, Georgia Fossett, Elise Foster, Natasha Guy, Leah Harris, Ethan Hurwitz, Zachary Jacobs, Evelyn Johnson, Jared Joines, Anne Kennedy, Gabrielle Kerbel, Declan Lawson, Anna Leone, Frederick Purnell, Jesse Rubin, Avital Schweitzer, Lily Snider, and Zachary Zwick.

The Language Award, given by the Language Department, recognizes juniors and seniors who have exhibited exceptional achievement on an advanced level and enthusiasm in their foreign language studies, was awarded to Hannah Anderson, Sydney Cohen, and Sara Thal.

The History Paper Prize, given by the History Department to highlight the best of the junior American History papers, was awarded to Colin Hitt.

The Mathematical Association of America and Friends’ Central School presented the Mathematics Award to Dashiell Halpern and Mike Wang, who scored the highest on the Annual American high School Mathematics Examination.

The Science Award, presented by the faculty of the Science Department to those seniors who have demonstrated excellence in scientific scholarship and achievement and have shown breadth of study across the science disciplines, was presented to Georgia Fossett.

Sponsored by the English Department, The Poets and Playwrights Prize, which recognizes the work of poets and dramatists in our student community, was presented to Eva Gonzalez.

The Ramsey Award for Prose, founded by writer, editor, and public relations director Mary Ann Ramsey ’41, which recognizes a writer for a piece of fiction or non-fiction prose, was presented to Angela Zhang.

Certificates for Service Recognition, recognizing students who have completed 40 or more hours of community service – outside of the Friends’ Central-required service – for a non-profit agency, were presented to Satori Chin, Leah Harris, Alice Hu, Sonya Kapoor, Talia Rosenberg, Carmella Saia, Remi Schwartz, Danielle Schweitzer, Emma Verges, Mia Webster, Daniel Yadgaroff, and Chloe Zwilling.

The Arts Award is given to a student who, throughout the course of his/her high school career, has demonstrated vision, intelligence, skill, and a love of image-making. They have integrated their eyes, their minds, their hands, and their hearts. This year, the award is proudly given to Grace Kauffman-Rosengarten.

The Benjamin V. Ogden Memorial Award, created by the children of Benjamin Ogden, the first director of Friends’ Central’s summer day camp and P.E. teacher at Overbrook High School and Temple University, to recognize students who embody the spirit of Benjamin Ogden, whose well-roundedness has been an example to our community, was presented to Rucha Alur, Levi Cooper, Gregory Dawson, Caroline Fakharzadeh, Avital Schweitzer, and Bruno Vogrig.

The John H. McCollum Memorial Award, in honor of John H. McCollum, former English teacher and the first dean of the senior class, beloved by students who appreciated his honesty, his high expectations, and his willingness to listen, was established by the Home and School Association to honor students whose generosity of spirit, like McCollum’s, has touched the Friends’ Central community, whose warmth, wit, and openness to all has fostered collaboration instead of competition, and who have acted often behind-the-scenes, without drawing much attention to themselves, was presented to: Georgia Fossett, Nate Guerra, Ethan Hurwitz, Andrew McSwiggan, and Frederick Purnell.

The Susan Durnford Snipes Memorial Award, in honor of Susan Durnford, a former biology teacher at FCS whose life resonated with joy: joy found in living, joy found in serving, joy found in teaching, joy found in people, is given to those students who have joyfully and with integrity served the community of Friends’ Central while students here, was presented to: Arianna Hobbs-Luby, Anna Leone, Austin Margulies, Jesse Rubin, Jessica Shields, and Sam Veith.

The Calvin H. Rankin, Jr. Memorial Award, given to those students who embody the spirit of Calvin Rankin, a 1943 graduate of Friends’ Central who is remembered for his sensitive spirit, his love of writing and music, and especially for his character, which combined gentleness with integrity, was presented to Julia Amsterdam, Derin Caglar, Anthony Candelori-Moraglia, Marissa Schwabe, and Sara Thal.

The Leola Adelaide Smith Memorial Award, given to those students who embody the spirit of Leola Adelaide Smith, a 1974 graduate of Friends’ Central remembered for her dignity, integrity, her love of people, her talent in music and art, and for imbuing all of her activities with a sense of her presence as a member of the group, with an eye toward the whole group’s function, not only her own individual contribution, was presented to Amelia Boscov, Elise Foster, Evelyn Johnson, and Anne Pizzini.

In recognition of their exemplary commitment to attending school every day for all four years in Upper School, the Special Award Presentation was given to Jared Joines, Anne Kennedy, and Madison McDaniels.

The Executive Award, given to a boy and girl in the Upper School, who, by vote of students and faculty, represent the highest qualifications of school citizenship, was presented to Austin Margulies and Avital Schweitzer.