NCS Awards Year-End Honors at Closing Ceremony

National Cathedral School concluded its 120th academic year on June 5 by observing a familiar tradition—celebrating students' academic, athletic, artistic, and service accomplishments—in a truly unique format.

 

The School Awards and Closing Ceremony was conducted online due to the continuing public health challenges presented by the coronavirus pandemic. Hundreds of students, faculty/staff, parents, and graduates logged in to watch the ceremony and applaud the honorees.

 

In her opening remarks, Head of School Susan C. Bosland nodded to "this time of uncertainty, grief, anger, and sadness, on a global and national scale," brought on by the pandemic and its effects and also the anguish over racial inequities exposed again by the recent killing of George Floyd.

 

Anaya Rodgers '20 also alluded to the ceremony's backdrop as she delivered the Closing Ceremony's address.

 

"This [senior] class is mourning," Rodgers said, and not for the first time. She reflected on the death in 2012 of Trayvon Martin, when she and her classmates were 4th graders, in their first year at NCS. "Many of us were overwhelmed with grief, but at no point were we alone. Nor was it the last time we came together to hold each other up."

 

In the wake of Floyd's death, Rodgers said, "my classmates found once again the space to be compassionate and generous." Coronavirus and the remote learning that it forced upon NCS "allowed our class to find innovative ways to continue to come together," she added. "We are constantly reimagining what 'normal' can and should look like."

 

Rodgers, who was selected by her classmates to deliver the address, said, "We are the grade who protests and does sit-ins and challenges discomfort, even when it is with the people we know best. ... And we just voted in our first election."

 

Bosland said, "We are ending the school year filled with hope that our students, faculty, and staff, with their voices, courage, and conscience, can make a difference in the world."

 

The ceremony bestowed awards that touch on every department in the school on 31 students in three grades. A recording of the ceremony is on the Media Gallery.

 

The full list of awards and recipients follows (all are members of the Class of 2020 unless otherwise noted):

 

Flag Winners: Avery Borgmann and Amelia Griffin

Head of School's Award: Sam Douki and India Reynolds

Helen Harker Albi 1925 Award: Sydney Featherstone

Class of 1998 Award: Katie Ambrose

Joshua Evans Jr. Memorial Award: Priya Phillips

 

Bishop's Scholar: Avery Borgmann

Sylvia Thompson Memorial Award: Bridgett Scott

Geraldine Wharry Faculty Leadership Award: Anaya Rodgers

Nancy Needham Goodrich Award: Maddy Murnick '22

English Prize: Pippa Self

 

Joye Pregnall Creative Writing Award: Katie Ambrose

Science Award: Bea Markham

Virginia K. Robertson Award for Distinction in Mathematics: Anika Mitra

Technology Award: Audrey May

Martha Sharma Geography Achievement Award: Jada Fife

 

Elizabeth Fry Award: Elektra Papathanasiou-Goldstein

Social Sciences Award: Kalena Blake

French Award: Vicky Wang

Spanish Award: Bella Haiz

Chinese Award: Gillian Moore

 

Laub-Novak Award: Bea Frum

Religious Studies Award: Amelia Griffin

Art Prize: Sydney Featherstone

Rhode Island School of Design Award: Gillian Moore

Gwendolyn B. Coney Award for Excellence in Theater: Ciara Hargrove

 

Jane emily Clymer Award in Drama: Maya Popova '22

Dance Award: Vicky Wang

Runner-Up Cup: Skylar Lach '22

High Point Cup: Ellie Hopper '22

Instrumental Music Award: Jada Fife

 

Choral Music Award: Lydia Danas

Mount St. Alban Award: Nicole Vernot-Jonas

Cathedral Medal: Sophie Horvath

Bruce Neswick Medal: Julia Poggi '21

John Templeton Kraus Memorial Prize: Emily Kim

 

St. Peter and St. Paul Award: Emily Kim

Chester Community Service Award: Sophia Charles

The Winning Team: Purple