Seven students and a teacher were inducted into the Cum Laude honor society at a dinner at Piatti’s on May 18.
Based on their GPA’s, students are elected annually by teachers and administrators who are members of Cum Laude. The top 10 percent of the class is elected in junior year and the next 10 percent in senior year.
The inductees were seniors Caroline Mehta, Erin Reddy and Anna Wiley and juniors Emma Brown, Amelia Fineberg, Keaton Ochoa and Anthony Swaminathan. Brooke Wells, head of high school, was also inducted.
“It’s an honor,” Wells said. “It’s humbling because there are a lot of people who do an awful lot for this school, and it’s nice that they chose me.”
Two of last year’s inductees, seniors Aishwarya Nadgauda and Emma Williams, also attended, along with member teachers who gave speeches for each inductee.
French teacher Richard Day was elected president of Cum Laude in 2008. Day runs meetings to choose new inductees, orders pins and certificates for inductees and leads ceremonies.
“I believe it is important to officially recognize academic excellence,” Day said. “It’s also nice to do this in a formal setting with good people and good food!”
Teachers and administrators can qualify for Cum Laude if they were members of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society in college, have Cum Laude membership from other schools, have completed distinguished scholarly work, or have contributed significantly to scholarship at SCDS.
The school pays for the dinners for members but not for family and guests.
