Honoring Twenty Students Inducted into the National Cum Laude Society

Gathered in the Chapel along with the inductees and their families, Head of School Jacqueline L. Landry opened the solemn ceremony with a prayer asking for God’s blessing.

 

“Bless our parents so that they may know the holiness of their work in raising daughters who seek erudition and seek scholarship with faith,” Ms. Landry said. “But, most especially, bless our students in knowing the holiness of their hard work.”

 

She continued, “We pray that together as a school, we become the people you desire us to be: people of courage, people of vision, people of academic sight, people of curiosity, people of gratitude, and people of service.”

 

After the prayer, Ms. Landry praised the young women for their dedication and mastery of Marymount’s trademark interdisciplinary curriculum and noted that these Sailors are an example to our entire school community. She also stressed her hope that the girls will use not just what they learned, but how they learned, to find a quiet space in their minds to advance their academic careers and lifelong aspirations.

 

“I hope that you will allow your mind to be a wonderful place in which to loiter: to dwell and to contemplate,” Ms. Landry said. “All good things come out of leisure: all innovation, all great writing, all great scientific theory. It is that pause that allows for brilliance. So tonight, as we celebrate your induction as scholars and recognize all the hard work that you’ve done, remember to give yourself pause.”

 

Tika Martin, Marymount’s Academic Dean and President of the Marymount Chapter, followed Ms. Landry’s introduction with a brief history of the National Cum Laude Society, which was founded in 1906 to recognize the scholastic achievements of students in secondary schools. As one of 382 schools in the United States that host a Cum Laude chapter, Marymount is charged in identifying students who demonstrate the highest standard of academic excellence.

 

Charter Member of Marymount’s Cum Laude Society Chapter and Performing Arts Faculty Member, Claire Hackett, then recited the Society’s motto of “Arete, Dike, Time” (Excellence, Justice, Honor).

 

“Arete includes the concept of excellence in the moral sense and is not limited to the ideal of superiority and scholarship, nor does it involve the endeavor of competing primarily for academic goals. Dike includes the concept of what is suitable and appropriate as well as just. Time includes the concept of dignity as well as honor.” Ms. Hackett said.  

 

Our Sailors lifetime membership in the Cum Laude Society is a singular honor, and we proudly acknowledge their past, present and future endeavors to contribute to society after their time at Marymount ends. Congratulations to the following newest members of the Marymount Chapter of the National Cum Laude Society: