Stress and academic competition drive students to do their best, and some even get rewarded for it. St. Paul Academy and Summit School students work to bring their grades up for long-term benefits such as college admittance, never really realizing the possible recognition they may get prior to graduation.

SPA recognizes and inducts the top 20% of the senior class, on the bases of cumulative GPA, into the Cum Laude Society. New Cum Laude Society inductee Zoe Matticks said, “Being the top of the class was always a goal for me, but since we don’t have any ranking systems I had no way of measuring myself against my classmates. So, I just did the best I could and it worked out.”

The Cum Laude Society, founded in 1906, exists internationally and inducts nearly 4,000 students into it every year. Magna Cum Laude Society member and Upper School mathematics teacher Mickey Scott works with Assistant to the Upper School Secretary Mary Harness, Upper School Dean of Students Judy Cummins, and Upper School Principal Chris Hughes to put together the list of the top 20% of the senior class each year. “Each individual school has some room to decide on their quota for inductees,” Scott said.

Before the school recognizes these students at the final recognition assembly, the school hosts a dinner for the inductees and their families to acknowledge and honor them. This year’s dinner was held on May 20, three days before the school formally announced the new Cum Laude Society Members.

Here is the list of the seniors who were recognized and inducted into the Cum Laude society:

Lucy Li

Nicholas Cohen

Sonya Das

Harrisen Egly

Kaia Findlay

Vittorio Orlandi

Zoe Matticks

Christian Koch

Cynthia Zheng

Sarah Coleman

Alexandra Miller

Alida Mitau

Grace Owens- Kurtz

Katherine Jones

Hannah Johnson

Nathaniel Truman

Charlie Southwick

Nolan Fahey

Jonathon Sogin