NCS Awards Year-End Honors at Annual Flag Day

NCS celebrated one of its oldest traditions on June 9 with its annual Flag Day prize ceremony. Seventy-three seniors were individually recognized before an audience of NCS students, parents, and friends outside the Washington National Cathedral, and 43 awards, touching on every department in the school, were handed out to students in five grades.

 

Annabelle Rice '17 was chosen by her classmates to deliver the Flag Day address, and Head of School Kathleen O'Neill Jamieson presented NCS's highest academic honor, the Flag, to India Bhalla-Ladd '17 and Margaret Thoren '17. The award recognizes the senior with the highest grade point average based on the average of the junior and senior end-of-year academic records. This year's tie was the first for the Flag since 2013.

 

The ceremony also marked the transfer of student government leadership from Murphy Shorb '17 and Farah Emory-Muhammad '17 to Katie Skoff '18 and Anna Youngkin '18. Eighth graders and 6th graders were recognized for their graduation from the Middle School and Lower School, respectively.

 

Mrs. Jamieson introduced and thanked retiring faculty and staff members Rob Green, Kathy Menz, Susan Merritt, Jane Simchak, David Tyson, and William Thompson, and she recognized Patricia Howie and David Tyson for their 20 years of service to NCS.

 

In keeping with Flag Day's traditional patriotic theme, Mary Pelson '17 sang "America the Beautiful" at the opening of the ceremony and Caroline Blanton '17 the National Anthem at its close.

 

A selection of photos from the ceremony are posted in the Media Gallery. The full list of Flag Day student awards follows (all recipients are members of the Class of 2017 unless otherwise noted):

 

Flag Winners: India Bhalla-Ladd & Margaret Thoren

Helen Harker Award: Sydney Austin

Joshua Evans Jr. Memorial Award: Sophia Triantis

Bishop's Scholar: India Bhalla-Ladd

Head of School's Award: Gigi Grigorian

 

Sylvia Thompson Memorial Award: Anna Christou

English Prize: Alexa Perlmutter

Joye Pregnall Creative Writing Award: Maya Millward

Science Award: Goldie Roth

Virginia K. Robertson Award for Distinction in Mathematics: Goldie Roth

 

Technology Prize: India Bhalla-Ladd

Martha Sharma Geography Achievement Award: Skye Bork

Elizabeth Fry Award: Annabelle Rice

Social Sciences Award: Mary Pelson

French Award: Michelle Zhu

 

Spanish Award: Elizabeth Thoren

Chinese Award: Raphaelle Hupez

Laub-Novak Award: Annabelle Rice

Religious Studies Award: Maeve Murphy

Art Prize: Rebecca Davis

 

Rhode Island School of Design Award: Summers Bruce

Gwendolyn B. Coney Award for Excellence in Theater: Veronica Merril

Jane emily Clymer Award in Drama: Taliyah Emory-Muhammad '19

Instrumental Music Award: Izabella Sabharwal de Bessenyey

Choral Music Award: Veronica Merril

 

Mount St. Alban Award: Maya Millward

Cathedral Medal: Elliott Bamford

Bruce Neswick Medal: Nicole Vernot-Jonas '20

John Templeton Kraus Memorial Gift: Caroline Kim

Dance Award: Jessica Rice

 

Chester Community Service Award: Addy Wolf

Nancy Needham Goodrich Award: Zoé Contreras-Villalta '19

Geraldine Wharry Faculty Leadership Award: Murphy Shorb & Farah Emory-Muhammad

Stuart Runyon Work Middle School Citizenship Award: Bilena Dabalen '21

Middle School Academic Achievement Award: Sarah Asher '21 & Nisa Quarles '21

 

Ruttenberg Student Leadership Grant: Katie Skoff '18 & Anna Youngkin '18

Runner-Up Cup: Catherine Paul & Lilly Keller '19

High-Point Cup: Jordan Gasho '18

The Winning Team: Gold

John S. Wood "Great Cities" Teaching Fellowship: Molly Hemphill

Class of 1995 Senior Parent Gift: Lydia Lewis