Convocation 2020

On the morning of September 7, 2020, the Vermont Academy community gathered online to kick off the 2020-21 school year with the annual Convocation ceremony.
Ms. Christine Armiger opened the event with the following invocation: 

As we enter into this school year,
I’d like to invite our community to stay open, connected 
and curious about this situation we’re all in together. 
What does it have to teach us? 
What do we need to learn?  

These questions arose for me last week 
while my friend and I walked our dogs together on Bancroft field,
the late day sun warming our backs 
as we climbed a hill of wildflowers, reflecting on the week 
and how wonderful it was to see all of the students and the teachers outside 
learning together in nature’s most exquisite classroom, 
eating together under an expansive sky-blue rooftop,
playing together in the grass.   

And suddenly we realized that this treasure had been here all along,
and we laughed to ourselves about how the virus had forced us out of our classrooms
out of our habits and traditions, 
giving us fresh perspective to see the wealth and beauty that was always there…
that we were too busy to notice.
And together we invoked a prayer of hope, that this challenge and misfortune might grant us
opportunity to disassemble and reinvent and carve a new path forward.

And we were grateful
for each other, 
for our little slice of heaven in Vermont
and for the realization that all we need is right in front of us,
always has been
in the people, 
in the land, 
in our relationships with one another.
 
All the wisdom of the world is in us,
in our nature,
in the nature that surrounds us.

And in that moment we smiled, knowing we would
be more than fine.
and that the path ahead of us would be beautiful…
because we would build it together.

Dr. Zaccara's addressed students, faculty and staff. Her speech can be found here.

New student body co-presidents Matt Sorenson ’21 and Jazmyn Creamer ’21 along with Secretary Maggie Hodgson ’21 then took the stage to address the community for the first time. In their speech they told their classmates:

We all know what’s going on in the world around us is serious. Regardless, we’re going to try to make our school year the best it can be. If any of you have ideas or suggestions about how we can make your school year better, please feel free to reach out to us. This year we need to come together as a community, if we can do that, I know we’ll have a great year. 

This year, we need to hold each other accountable because our actions affect everyone in our community. Don’t be afraid to tell your friend to put their masks on or socially distance. Your actions don’t only affect you; we dictate how the rest of the year plays out. This isn’t an individual effort, but one individual can create serious consequences for everyone else in our community. 

With that said, we want to make our time on campus memorable. We have a lot of fun ideas planned for this year and we’d love to hear any of your ideas for activities on campus or ways we can improve your day to day lives at VA. We’re all very approachable and if you have any ideas, please let us know. We’re eager to discuss changes we can make to benefit all of you. 

Although this year is going to look very different than we all hoped, we can still have a great year. We are going to work hard all year to ensure that our seniors have a great senior year and that we all enjoy our time together. VA is a special place and we have a special opportunity to maximize these circumstances, in order to do that it’s going to take all of us. So please, be responsible, be safe, and let’s have a great year together. 

GO VA!

The class deans then presented Honors and High Honors distinctions earned in the Spring of 2020 and the Anna Mae D. Fenney Awards for the 2019-20 school year.
  • Students earn Honors status for a GPA between 3.33 and 3.66. 
  • Students earn High Honors status for a GPA of 3.67 or above. 
  • Anna Mae D. Fenney Awards are given annually to those students who maintain a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.67 and have achieved High Honors for each trimester during the previous academic year.
Those earning honors in the class of 2023 are:

Honors
Livia Brooks
Thorin Martin

High Honors
Aiden Andrews
Benjamin Hart
William Noble
Alden Ormont
Susannah Pennell
Julia Small
Erik Sorenson
HanJun “Ella” Yang
Yunfeng “Gary” Zhu

Anna Mae D. Fenney Awards recipients 
Benjamin Hart
William Noble
Alden Ormont
Susannah Pennell

Those earning honors in the class of 2022 are:

Honors
Andrew Clark
Elizabeth Pitts
Lilly Shlosser
Meagan Spring

High Honors
Eliza Asante
Lexi Farwell
Andrew Gould
Mia Hennum
Ty Higgins
JaeHyeong “Andy” Jeon
Casey Marchese
Danielle McCarthy
Chisom Okpara
Kim Osmec Perusa
Maïka Paquin
Jessica Sujishi 
Arya Tehrani
Riley Walsh 
Yu Han “Jason” Wang

Anna Mae D. Fenney Awards recipients
Eliza Asante
Andrew Gould
Mia Hennum
Maïka Paquin
Jessica Sujishi

Those earning honors in the class of 2021 are:

Honors
Baily Cumminsky
Harrison Early
Hale Goodnow
Wazan Hoshino
Skye Ryan
Izabella Segui
Esme Stefani
Cody White
Chengxin “Patrick” Wu

High Honors 
Joshua Bascoe
Hillary Berry
Benjamin Bodett
Seamus Buckley
Jazmyn Creamer
Maurice Day
Anais Fortier
Nathaniel Gryczka
Rex Hill
Maggie Hodgson
Linda Krajciova
Ali Hayat Lakhani
Ruihan “Candy” Li
Michael Libutti
Matthew Loren
Jackson Marchese
Kelly McCarthy
Ann Moore
Samson Orlinsky
Nana Owusu-Anane
Trevor Palmiotto
Matthew Sorenson
Entong “Olivia” Wang
Yiwen “Eva” Wu
Feng “Shane” Xiong
Eno Yoo

Anna Mae D. Fenney Awards recipients 
Joshua Bascoe
Hillary Berry
Jazmyn Creamer
Maggie Hodgson
Matthew Loren
Ann Moore
Nana Owusu-Anane
Trevor Palmiatto
Feng “Shane” Xiong

Two additional awards were given to two members of the Class of 2021: 
  • The Class of 1892 Award is awarded to the returning senior who earned the highest GPA during their junior year. This years’ recipient is Nana Owusu-Anane ’21.
  • The Harvard Book Prize is awarded annually to a rising senior whose achievement in academic, extracurricular and citizenship areas has been exemplary – a student of high personal standards who gives promise of sound leadership in later life. This years’ recipient is Maggie Hodgson ’21.
After the awards, all new students and faculty were asked to sign the Vermont Academy Honor Code Book at Leavitt House to begin the 2020-21 school year.
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Vermont Academy is a coed college preparatory boarding and day school in southern Vermont, serving grades 9-12 plus a postgraduate year.