Chestnut Hill Academy issued the following announcement on Mar. 10.
On Friday last week, Upper School students were recognized for their academic achievement at the 2022 Cum Laude Society induction ceremony. Eleven juniors and 13 seniors joined last year's inductees. The Cum Laude Society is a national organization with 337 chapters in private and public secondary schools that “recognizes academic achievement for the purpose of promoting excellence, justice, and honor…areté, diké, timé.”
Along with the students that were newly inducted into the Cum Laude Society, veteran teacher and head of the science department Scott Stein was chosen as this year’s honorary faculty member. Senior Nia Hodges, Stein’s advisee and a member of the society herself, shared a tribute to Stein acknowledging his profound impact “uplifting this community for decades.”
Full list of Cum Laude Students
| Inducted as juniors |
| Amanda Cooney
Samuel Ellis Halfpenny Nia Odette Hodges Alisa Yufei Jia Gabriela N. Leon-Palfrey Madeline J. Mahoney Claire Ruth Mollen Charles David Norton Lucy C. Pearson Anthony Joseph Regli Isaac Ryder Schapiro Stephanie Christine Scheuermann Whitney Deering Taylor |
| Juniors Inducted this year |
| Hans Holbrook Bode
Jack Gaghan Fallon Marie George Lillian Marie Hall Grace Kelly Hannigan Yichen Huang Daniel James O'Connor Samantha Lisette Simon Qimou Song Nathalie Kennedy Taylor Winslow Bailey Tracy |
| Seniors Inducted this year |
| Hua Bai
Chloe Ann Brundin Chandler Faith Fattah Cameron Golden Lauren Elise Gregson Tana Huixin Liu Alexa Faith Rhodes Kayla Morgan Runkel Eliza Romig Russell Elizabeth Spaulding Shoup Grayson David Wade Hoatian Yang |
Hello Everyone,
It is my greatest honor and privilege to introduce this year’s honorary Cum Laude inductee who has been one of the most steadfast and memorable teachers during my high school experience at SCH.
Many could argue that the arrival of this pandemic in the Spring of 2020—swiftly accompanied by quarantines, N-95s, and social distancing—fully disrupted the “homeostasis” of this community. No longer could we gather for assembly, or eat in close proximity with one another. During the weeks of online learning, we quickly became accustomed to strained conversations through Zoom or Google Meets rather than carefree waves in the hallways. As upperclassmen, we felt our academic, extracurricular, and personal struggles amplified tenfold in isolation. The relatively stable equilibrium of this community, the sense of belonging that had embraced us for many years, felt out of balance.
When thinking about this lack of balance, I am reminded of Claude Bernard, a 19th century physiologist known in the biological and medical fields as the “Father of Homeostasis.” Bernard could explain homeostasis far better than I ever could, but I will briefly define it as the controlled stability of the internal, chemical, and physical conditions of the body. Without this careful internal balance, we succumb to the external stimuli which surround us.
But for those of us who were fortunate enough to have this teacher during their junior or senior year, walking into his classroom (or entering his Google Meet) transported us into a different and brighter world. No matter how bleak the future seemed, we found comfort in the overgrown plants near the window, the baby Yoda on his desk, or even his “hilarious” biology-inspired jokes. No matter the day, he takes the time to ask each and every student how they’re doing before class begins, and makes himself available during SAS for questions about homework, independent study, or the latest scientific articles. In a time riddled with instability, his scientific curiosity and devotion to his students have given us all a sense of stability that we never could have imagined possible.
This teacher challenges us—there is no doubt about that. He believes in learning by doing, making mistakes, and learning from them—all while laughing along the way. His classes teach resilience, a virtue that has been invaluable to juniors and seniors as we navigate the last few years of high school and to all of us as we move through this pandemic. Most importantly, he makes sure that our classes integrate current issues within the scientific and global community, like COVID or vaccinations. He understands that the ethical and moral implications of scientific discovery are just as important to the balance of young minds as the discovery itself.
For decades, he has uplifted this community, and it is my honor to introduce my advisor for almost 4 years, and my biology teacher for almost 2 years now: Mr. Stein.
Photo caption (L to R):
- FRONT ROW: Qimou Song '23, Yichen Huang '23, Samantha Simon '23, Grace Hannigan '23, Winslow Tracy '23, Lillian Hall '23, Hans Bode '23
- SECOND ROW: Hoatian Yang '22, Jack Gaghan '23, Fallon George '23, Natalie Taylor '23, Daniel O'Connor '23
- THIRD ROW: Cameron Golden '22, Elizabeth Shoup '22, Tana Liu '22, Eliza Russell '22, Hua Bai '22, Grayson Wade '22
- FOURTH ROW: Alexa Rhodes '22, Kayla Runkel '22, Chloe Brundin '22, Chandler Fattah '22, Lauren Gregson '22
- FIFTH ROW: Amanda Cooney '22, Whitney Taylor '22, Gabriela Leon-Palfrey '22, Madeline Mahoney '22, Anthony Regli '22
- TOP ROW: Charles Norton '22, Lucy Pearson '22, Claire Mollen '22, Nia Hodges '22, Stephanie Scheuermann '22, Isaac (Zach) Schapiro '22, Samuel Halfpenny '22
- MISSING: Alisa Jia '22
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