The Pennington School held its 181st Commencement Exercises on Saturday, June 4.
William S. Hawkey, head of school, granted diplomas and certificates to the 104 members of the Class of 2022, which includes students from six states and three countries. The commencement speaker was Jordan M. Gray, a member of the school’s board of trustees.
Senior prizes were awarded on June 3. Yiwei Zhu of Shanghai, China and Ariana Colner of Lawrence were valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively.
Zhu earned a senior prize for excellence in Spanish and the William Alford Award for Distinctive Service in Music. She also shared the The Pennington School Award for International Citizenship with Hexin Jiang of Shenzhen, China. Zhu plans to attend Johns Hopkins University in the fall.
Colner earned a certificate in applied science and senior prizes for excellence in German and technical theatre, as well as the Scientific Inquiry Award. She also received the Head of School Award to the Best All-Around Student, recognizing “that member of the senior class whose distinguished scholarship and dedication to a variety of extracurricular activities has set a memorable example for us all.” Colner plans to attend Williams College.
Gateway Prizes, which are given to the students who best exemplify Pennington’s core values of honor, virtue, and humility, were awarded to seven seniors: Tyler Anderson of New Hope; Sydney Francis of Ramsey; Eva Guerino of Hopewell; Ronan Karp of Pennington; Hieu Nguyen of Ho Chi Minh City; Xavier Sang of Skillman; and Gia Villegas of Bordentown.
Several teaching prizes were presented to members of the faculty. The Henry and Selma Otte Distinguished Teacher Award, given annually to a full-time teacher with at least five years of teaching experience at The Pennington School, was given to Samantha Stern-Leaphart, teacher of English; assistant dean of students; and director of diversity, equity, and inclusion.
Dolores Eaton, department chair of the arts, was presented the Robert E. Martini Award for Distinguished Teaching, given to one whose teaching takes students’ individuality into account and who makes a significant impact on students’ lives.
In addition, Head Coach and Teacher of Health Ryan Stokes was given the Kie and Hija Ahn Award for Peace and Global Understanding.
The members of the Class of 2022 (by state or country of residence and hometown):
DELAWARE
Wilmington: Ethan B. Pires
FLORIDA
Miromar Lakes: Julie A. Kennedy, Kurt E. Kennedy Jr.
Vero Beach: Keira L. Stampe
MARYLAND
Burtonsville: Mame A. S. Baffour-Awuah
NEW JERSEY
Belle Mead: Lauren N. Woodroffe
Berkeley Heights: Yuxuan Yang
Bordentown: Gia B.Villegas
Chesterfield: Aidan L. Keith
Columbus: Christopher P. Ly, Shannon L. McKiernan
Ewing: Miami I. Celentana, Julienn C. F. Harris
Hamilton: Gabriel Di Pierro
Hopewell: Kirsten P. Griswold, Eva M. Guerino, Daisy R. Hutnik
Lambertville: Christopher J. Cromarty
Lawrenceville: Scott P. Caponi Jr., Ariana M. Colner, William J. Cooper, Benton C. De La Houssaye IV, Jack C. Giacobbe, Noah R. Kooistra, Olivia L. Meyerson, Collin C. Penders, Erin P. Penders, Theophile B. Sardain
Lebanon: Mark I. Woolhouse
Madison: Jane A. Cormier
Manalapan: Philip A. Urban
Monroe: Akshay Arun
Morristown: Mia R. Gorczynski
Parlin: Jonell Adu-Gyamfi
Pennington: Anthony D. Argiropoulos, Stephanie K. Balerna, Phillip S. Brackin III, Maxwell M. Close, Jialun Cui, Bennett P. Gray, Lucinda K. H. Harding, Ronan R. Karp, Luke J. Kavulich, Merrick H. Liu, Mateo Lopez-Castro, Aidan N. Medina, Zachary C. Merritt, Elliot M. Overhiser, Rafael Ponce de Leon, Matthew L. Tracy Princeton: Chloe B. Boocock, Pepper B. deTuro, Jonathan F. B. Eaton, Liam S. Goldstein, Luke G. Jeanes, Daniel B. Sampaio
Princeton Junction: Jenna N. Bluni, Ganesh Feroze
Ramsey: Sydney J. Francis
Ringoes: Benjamin M. Snider
Robbinsville: Lorenzo D. Amico
Skillman: Mia V. Cresti, Evan I. Lewis, Xavier M. A. Sang, Samuel J. Shamsey
South Orange: David Cahn
Titusville: Jeriah A. Mickens
Trenton: Isaiah N. Muse
West Windsor: Olivia R. Bottomley, Lukas J. Gessner, Avani Prakash
NEW YORK
Bronx: Jabril A. Belle-Walker
Brooklyn: Xavier J. Blake
New York City: Jack de Gravelle Davis, Dahe Wang, Yinghong Zhang
PENNSYLVANIA
Dresher: Caroline T. Loonie
Erie: Elinor K. Schinsky
Langhorne: Ruby S. Grisin, Isaiah G. Pappano
New Hope: Tyler J. Anderson, Cormac M. Glanas, Mary Kathryn Kramli, Michael A. Salak, Avery M. Sichel, Brynne M. Taranto, Makenna D. Urbanek
Newtown: Kira A. O’Neil
Yardley: Maxwell S. W. Gibbard, Sophia F. Latronica, John A. Santarsiero, Sindhu Yaramosu
CHINA
Beijing: Jiajun Deng
Guangzhou: Minghao Zhang
Hangzhou: Chi Chen, Xinyi Ge
Shanghai: Hongyi Cai, Lyuxin Zhang, Yiwei Zhu, Yiyao Zhu
Shenzhen: Zehui Chen, Hexin Jiang, Qiongyuan Zhang
VIETNAM
Ho Chi Minh City: Hieu M. Nguyen
The members of Pennington’s Class of 2022 have made plans to attend the following colleges and universities: American University, Babson College, Bard College, Bates College, Bentley University, Berklee College of Music, Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, Boston College, Brandeis University, Brigham Young University, Bucknell University, California Polytechnic State University (San Luis Obispo), Carnegie Mellon University, Chapman University, Clemson University, Coastal Carolina University, College of Charleston, Columbia University, Connecticut College and Cornell University.
They also plan to attend Delaware State University, Denison University, Drew University, Duke University, Elon University, Emory University, Fairfield University, Fairleigh Dickinson University (Florham), Fordham University, Georgetown University, Haverford College, High Point University, Hobart and William Smith Colleges, Hope College, Indiana University (Bloomington), Johns Hopkins University, Lafayette College, Lehigh University, Loyola University Maryland, Lynn University, Marist College, Middlebury College, Millersville University of Pennsylvania, Montclair State University and Moravian University.
Students also plan to attend North Carolina A & T State University, Northeastern University, Northwestern University, Pennsylvania State University (Abington), Pennsylvania State University (Main Campus), Pomona College, Post University, Rhodes College, Rutgers University (New Brunswick), Santa Clara University, School of Visual Arts, Spelman College, St. Lawrence University, Syracuse University, Texas Christian University, The University of Tennessee, Union College and the University of Arkansas.
Graduates also plan to attend the University of California (Irvine), University of Cincinnati, University of Denver, University of Kentucky, University of Miami, University of Notre Dame, University of Pennsylvania, University of Scranton, University of Southern California, University of Toronto, University of Vermont, University of Virginia (Main Campus), University of Wisconsin (Madison), Villanova University, Wake Forest University, Washington University in St. Louis, Wesleyan University, Williams College and Xavier University.
The Pennington School is an independent coeducational school for students in grades 6 through 12, in both day and boarding programs.
The Pennington School Class of 2022.,
