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Westminster Celebrates Graduation of Class of 2016

Members of the Westminster community celebrated the graduation of 113
students in the Class of 2016 at commencement May 28. Headmaster Bill
Philip welcomed family members and friends of the graduates, recognized
the contributions of school prefects and thanked the Class of 2016 for “all of
your ongoing efforts to lead and support our school community.”

He also shared highlights of the “remarkable year” related to Admissions,
the Westminster Fund, construction of the new dining hall and dormitory,
and college admissions. He reported that 84 percent of the members of the
Class of 2016 were admitted to colleges ranked in the top two categories of
selectivity in Barron’s Profiles of Colleges and Universities. “This
achievement underscores the impressive talent shared by all of the graduates
we are celebrating today,” he said.

In his Salutatory Address, Head Prefect Tim Sanford emphasized the
importance of making right choices by saying, “Class of 2016, today is the
day we celebrate all the right choices that we have made over the course of
our high school careers.” He then talked about the importance of
dependability and getting things done. “Our world needs young people like
ourselves who can be relied on to work their hardest day in and day out.”

He also emphasized the importance of having the right mindset. “Be
confident in what you learned here at Westminster and know that you can do
anything that you put your mind to.” He concluded by saying, “At
Westminster, we have garnered a unique toolkit of skills and developed
everlasting relationships that we will always be able to rely on. The solution
to any problem will always be within reach; you just have to look inside
yourself and find it.”

In his Outstanding Scholar Address, Wonjune Kang ’16 encouraged his
classmates to be inspired and “strive to achieve the impossible, pave the way
for the future and make the world a better place.” He also told them they are
powerful. “Our humanity allows us to collectively determine the world that
we’re going to live in by being that world. That’s the real power that we all
have. It’s not our jobs, its not our bank accounts, it has nothing to do with
immortality or fame, and yet, it’s possibly the most important thing that we
all do throughout our lives.” He ended by saying, “So while you have the
chance think about what you want to achieve as we go off into the next stage
of our lives. Show your humanity. Educate and improve yourselves and
create more solutions than problems. That’s all anyone can ever ask of you
and that’s more than enough. Because in the end, our actions are what build
our world. And don’t take that for granted.”

The keynote speaker was Allison Bailey Blais ’96, the chief operating
officer and board secretary of the National September 11 Memorial and
Museum at the World Trade Center in New York City. She spoke about the
importance of the words “grit” and “grace” in Westminster’s motto, saying,
“I can tell you honestly that over my time working on the Ground Zero
rebuilding, these words have been my touchstone.” She also described the
importance of the word “gratitude,” calling grit, grace and gratitude the
“three Gs” and recounted stories that contributed to how she sees each of the
three words.

“There is such depth of meaning in the three Gs that permeate this campus,”
she said. “And honestly, if I look back at the mistakes I have made, they can
be attributed to forgetting at least one of the three. In the end, I think grit,
plus grace, plus gratitude becomes something like algebra or calculus. …
But this is one of those equations that has more than one answer.
Together the three Gs equal resilience, happiness, ambition, balanced with
humility. They are consciousness and they are conscience. They are
perspective and fierce integrity. If you’re living these words, there’s pretty
much no way to avoid being a person of integrity. They equal hope and
they’re a reminder to take the challenging moments, heartbreaking times and
embarrassing failures that happen to every one of us and to remember it is
not simple, this life we live. But is deeply worth it.”

She closed by saying, “And like the candlelight spreading through the chapel
here each December, let your equation of grit, grace and gratitude fan the
flames of hope and love exponentially out there in the world beyond
Westminster.”

The following faculty members and students received awards:

FACULTY PRIZES

Twenty-Year Service Pins
Peter Ulrich P’09, ’10
Judi Tolmea

C. Hiram Upson Family Chair

The C. Hiram Upson Family Chair for faculty in the humanities who are
master teachers of writing rotates every five years and was made possible
through the generosity of C. Hiram Upson ’50, P’86, who served on the
Westminster Board of Trustees for 11 years.

Bryan Tawney P’15, ’17, ’19

The Swayze Award:

Presented annually in honor of distinguished alumnus, trustee and former
Chairman of the Board of Trustees Townsend Swayze ’55, this award is
given to a member of the faculty for outstanding contributions to the life of
the school.

Mitch Overbye P’05, ’09

The O’Brien Award:

This award is presented annually in honor of Marianna and the late Junie
O’Brien P’81, who devoted their lives in service to young people and to
schools. It recognizes a member of the faculty who has, over the course of
the year, been especially selfless and generous with time and care in the
nurture and support of students and whose extraordinary, ongoing personal
commitment to young people sets an example to the Westminster
community.

Bill Sistare

STUDENT PRIZES

Gretchen Hupfel ’82 Art Purchase Prize
Hayley Martini ’16

Cowing Art Award
Sarah Alibrahimi ’16

Lewis J. Powers Photography Award
Katherine Berry ’16, Emma Merlin ’16

Excellence in Dance
Mariah Davis ’16, Michelle Sciafani ’16

Edward Scull Jr. ’71 Award for Excellence in Architecture
Ted Batchelder ’16

Excellence in Science
Wonjune Kang ’16

Excellence in Physics
Carl Doucette ’16

Joyce Wilson Prize for Excellence in Mathematics
Wonjune Kang ’16

Excellence in Economics
Jack Horrigan ’16

Class of 1941 Peter Mars Memorial History Prize
Jack Horrigan ’16

Dramatic Award for Service and Achievement in Acting
Emma Alfeld ’16

Design Award for Service and Achievement in Technical Support
Sarah Alibrahimi ’16, Rebecca Ryan ’16

J. Lawrence Gilman Award for Achievement in Music and
Participation in Musical Activities
Emma Alfeld ’16, Joyce Cheng ’16

Gordon McKinley Award for Excellence in English
Wonjune Kang ’16

Critchell Rimington Creative Writing Award
Rebecca Ryan ’16

Burdett Prize for Excellence in the Study of French
Katie Deveaux ’16

Richard P. Hopley Excellence in Latin Prize
Wonjune Kang ’16

Moncada Prize for Excellence in Spanish
Evie Pope ’16

Sixth Form Prizes for General Scholarship
First in the Sixth Form: Wonjune Kang
Second in the Sixth Form (tie): Ashlyn Chin, Jack Horrigan
Third in the Sixth Form: Grace Brentano

Butler Bowl

The faculty presents this award to a member of the Third Form for character
and leadership.

Julia Krys ’19

Adams Bowl

This award is presented annually to a member of the Fourth Form who best
embodies the qualities of Richard and Barbara Adams, who gave devoted
service to Westminster for over 40 years, showing outstanding personal
qualities and concern for the community and unwavering dedication to
students. Barbara served on the faculty from 1995-2011, and Dick served on
the faculty from 1970-2013.

Teagan Stedman ’18

Wilbraham Bowl

This award is presented annually to a member of the Fifth Form who best
embodies the qualities of Geoffrey Wilbraham, who gave distinguished and
loyal service to Westminster from 1958 to 1994: high personal standards,
consistent respect for others, unswerving commitment to the common good,
steady insistence on fair play and abiding human decency.

Gary Simons ’17

Brian T. Bruyette ’77 Senior Athletic Award

This award is given annually to the Sixth Form boy and girl who best
exemplify excellence in athletics and who contributed to the character of the
team. It is given in memory of Brian T. Bruyette ’77, who in his enthusiasm,
sportsmanship, effort and skills, represented all that is best in this school.

Sarah Migliori ’16, J.P. Schuhlen ’16

Richard K. LeBlond II Honor Award

This award is given annually to a member of the Sixth Form who
exemplifies dedication to academics and loyalty to the school.

Grace Brentano ’16

Paul Winship ’35 Alumni Book Prize

This book prize is awarded to a Sixth Former who has made an unusual
commitment in both breadth and depth to the school’s programs and
activities.

Ricardo Vazquez ’16

Outstanding Scholar Award

This award is presented to the Sixth Former who, in the opinion of the
faculty, is the outstanding scholar of the class. The award is not necessarily
determined by rank in class but is based, rather, on the attributes of the true
scholar: curiosity, imagination, power to associate new observations with
prior experience, thoroughness, appetite for ideas rather than for grades as an
end in themselves and the ability to move easily in the realm of concepts.

Wonjune Kang ’16

Keyes Bowl

Established by the Class of 1966 and recognized as the school’s most
prestigious commencement award, the Keyes Bowl is presented annually to
a member of the Sixth Form and recognizes the qualities of loyalty, courage,
leadership and humility.

Tim Sanford ’16

After the prizes were awarded, Headmaster Philip, with the assistance of
Associate Head of School Nancy Spencer and Director of Studies Bill
Sistare, presented diplomas to members of the class. The graduates then
recessed to participate in the Westminster tradition of passing diplomas on
the Sixth Form Lawn. They formed a circle and at the signal of the head
prefect, passed the random diplomas they received during the
commencement ceremony to the right until they received their own diploma.
They then stepped out of the circle signifying their graduation.
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