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HACKLEY 

HACKLEY REVIEW 

COMMENCEMENT SUPPLEMENT 2017

Table of Contents 

The Cum Laude Address 4 

Senior Dinner Address 6 

Class Day Awards 9 

2016–2017 Athletics Awards 13 

Community Council 2016–17 13 

The Salutatory Address 14 

The Valedictory Address 16 

Fourth Grade Recognition Day 18 

Eighth Grade Recognition Ceremony 20 

Congratulations to the Class of 2017! 23

4 HACKLEY REVIEW COMMENCEMENT SUPPLEMENT 2017 

Cum Laude 

The Cum Laude Address 

Carmen Maria Sanchez Pinilla ’07 

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Carmen Sanchez ’07 offered the Cum Laude Society 

Address on June 5, 2017. Salutatorian of her Hackley 

graduating class, Carmen played Varsity Soccer and 

Lacrosse and was actively involved in campus community 

service. She went on to Princeton, where she majored in 

Politics and Psychology with a minor in East Asian Studies, 

and worked briefly at Goldman Sachs before discovering 

her passion in the advertising world. Since entering the 

advertising field in 2012, she has developed branding 

strategies and advertising campaigns at various agencies for 

Dianne Fahy ’92, Cum Laude Society Secretary, Carmen 

Sanchez ’07, Michael Wirtz. 

clients in a variety of industries, including Microsoft, FEMA, Colgate, SeaWorld, and Dress for Success. She believes that 

smart advertising has the power to inform and transform hearts and minds for the better, and is dedicated to doing good 

work for good causes. Outside of the office, she volunteers as a tutor at a correctional facility in lower Manhattan and is an 

avid soccer, basketball, and baseball fan. Carmen is a Colombian-born Peruvian who spent the majority of her childhood in 

Senegal before crossing the Atlantic to enter the seventh grade at Hackley School, and she is now proud to call NYC home. 

Thank you for inviting me to share this special evening with you. I believe that 

celebrating the success of others is often more fun, and more meaningful, than 

celebrating your own, and I am honored to be your fan tonight. 

Your unwavering dedication to a job well done has 

qualified you to enter into this club of high-achievers. 

For that, I hope you feel proud and excited for what 

lies ahead. 

Being hailed as the smartest kid in the room tends 

to produce the expectation that you’ll answer difficult 

questions correctly and confidently. When you reach 

milestones like these, your relatives, your friends, 

and even strangers will likely ask some form of this 

question—“What’s the plan?” 

If you presently do not have the answer to this notso-easy 

question, welcome to the not-so-exclusive 

club of very smart people who don’t have “the plan” 

figured out. Years of confidently delivering correct 

answers may make it difficult for you to believe what 

I now know to true: that not knowing answers can 

be surprisingly rewarding, as long as you never stop 

asking the right kinds of questions. 

I contend that there is no correct plan—and that the 

answers to questions like this one can and should 

change—many times—if you’re learning anything at all. 

I know a girl who graduated high school very confident 

she would become a lawyer: specifically, a criminal 

lawyer, specializing in white-collar crime (she already 

had a degree in binge-watching Law & Order). In 

college, she took politics and psychology classes—the 

pre-law recipe—and interned at the Brooklyn district 

attorney’s office. For her college graduation party, her 

family bought her a cake in the shape of the Supreme 

Court, with all nine justices—all edible—sitting on top.

The new members of the 

Hackley Cum Laude Society chapter: 

5 

Front row, from left: Camille Butterfield, 

Madison Chen, Isabella Ampil, Olivia 

Giacomo 

Second row:, Connor Wilke, Grace 

Henrich, Sabrina Fleishaker, Luisa 

Stalman, Aurora Straus 

Third row:, Amanda Patterson, Riya 

Mital, Sarah Lucente, Owen Friesen 

Back row:, Gabriel Welch, Jamie 

Leonard, Uriel Garcia, Matthew 

Bonanno, Alexander Popov 

Shortly after eating that cake, she started her job as an 

analyst in the legal department of an investment bank, 

working with seasoned lawyers who offered valuable 

wisdom and advice. She was totally on track for law 

school. 

As she started to fill out her law school application, 

she asked herself a scarily simple question: “Carmen, 

is this what you want?” 

All of a sudden, the correct plan didn’t feel right. 

At first, I was terrified. Because not knowing is 

terrifying when you’ve convinced yourself that being 

certain is the best way to be. 

But then, something great happened. I dared to not 

know—to talk to friends, and friends of friends, and 

even strangers, to ask them how they chose their 

majors; how they chose their first jobs; why they 

switched jobs; why they liked—or didn’t like—their 

current jobs; how they defined success; and did they 

think they were succeeding? 

Their answers led me to three more questions which I 

believe are the three key questions that can best guide 

us in pursuing success in work and in life: 

1. Can I do this well? 

2. Do I do this well, but not so well that I don’t make 

mistakes and learn from them? 

3. (and this one is key) Am I excited about doing 

this every day, even when the road gets rough? 

These questions nudged me toward a new career path 

in advertising—a path I did not plan for, but a path 

that feels right based on the criteria I have proposed. 

This is not to say I have it all figured out. What it 

does mean, though, is that I have found a job that 

keeps me asking the kinds of questions that will 

ensure I keep learning and growing. To me, that’s 

success—not the end of a carefully executed plan, but 

a constant state of positive change. 

Hackley’s approach to education hints at this 

definition of success. As I prepared to speak with 

you all this evening, I was brought back to 10th grade 

history with the great John Van Leer, who on very 

select occasions told our class to “BURN IN HELL.” 

One might think that this reprimand followed cases 

where we had failed to give him a correct answer; 

looking back now, I realize that he reserved the 

warning for when he found us not bothering to ask 

enough questions. 

It is by being constantly curious, constantly skeptical 

—even of our own convictions—that we can avoid the 

hell of being content vs. happy, busy vs. productive, 

fine vs. fulfilled. 

Each of you has been blessed with the immense 

potential that springs from the combination of an 

excellent education and a personal drive to succeed. 

I hope you capitalize on that by choosing college 

classes that make you smile as much as they push you 

outside of your comfort zone, by choosing friends that 

support you at the same time they challenge you, and 

by choosing a career that makes work a passion, not a 

chore. You, the luckiest and brightest among us, have 

a duty TO NOT BURN IN HELL, because if you do, 

there’s not much hope for everyone else. 

When in doubt, don’t rush to an answer. Instead, 

pause, and take the time to ask the hard, rewarding 

questions, because a brave question is always more 

inspiring than a correct answer. JVL and Hackley 

taught me that, and I urge you to carry that with you 

as you go on to rock this world. 

Thank you—and congratulations again.


Senior Dinner Address 

My Wish: Shine Light 

into the Dark Places 

Bill McLay 

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The Class of 2017 chose physics teacher Bill McLay to 

receive the Anton and Lydia Rice Inspirational Teaching 

Award. Each year, the Rice Award winner delivers the 

Senior Dinner address. After thanking the team behind 

the Senior Dinner, and the members of the Class of 2017 

for the ways in which knowing them has enriched his life, 

he offered these remarks: 

Bill McLay 

Having sat where all of you are and listened to these speeches over the years, I am 

often fascinated by the different tacks those who have delivered them have taken. 

I have found that they often reflect something about the speaker’s personality. 

Knowing my personality, I am sure that now frightens more than a few of you. Of 

course, I know what many of your parents may be thinking, “Really, you all had to 

pick the physics teacher? This is my worst nightmare; there is no way I'm going to 

understand any of this. Maybe if I just stare intently, nod my head every once in a 

while, it will totally look like I get it.” Some of you parents, however, may already 

know me because I taught one of your children. Now those of you out there may be 

thinking, “Great, it’s my kid’s physics teacher, this is my worst nightmare, what if he 

recognizes me. Maybe if I just stare intently and nod my head I can convince my child 

I understood what he said.” 

Well, let me help all of you ease this level of panic 

right away. I have a favorite quote I give my physics 

students at the beginning of each year. It is from the 

renowned physicist and teacher, and my personal 

hero, Richard Feynman. For those who have never 

heard of him, he was a brilliant physicist who, among 

other things, worked on the Manhattan Project, the 

first atomic bomb. Back then, he was known for 

playing pranks on people at Los Alamos, especially 

the security officers, but he also liked to show up 

at local high schools and just ask if he could teach 

a science class for the day. Anyway, in his book on 

Quantum Electrodynamics, (a book I am sure you have 

all read), he says, “Everyone comes to a science lecture 

knowing they will not understand it, but perhaps the 

speaker will be wearing a nice tie to stare at.” That is 

how I start each year with my students. With that in 

mind, I have picked my most glaring Mickey Mouse 

tie for anyone who feels they need something to stare 

intently at. And yet, perhaps tonight, you may not 

need my tie. 

You see, I thought I would do something more than 

talk science or throw some random advice at all of 

you. I wanted to do something much bigger. I hope to

SENIOR DINNER 

7 

accomplish two things tonight, send you off with “My 

Wish,” and let you all in on the meaning of life. 

Now we have all probably heard or read many views 

on what people consider to be the meaning of life. 

Some say it is to find what you love to do and then 

make it your life’s work. Others say it is to contribute 

something to society. Douglas Adams claims in his 

book The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy that it is 

simply the number 42. There are countless books and 

even a few movies on the subject. (I don’t recommend 

going to the movie Monty Python’s The Meaning of 

Life for any real answers, though.) However, many 

of us spend hours trying to understand just that, the 

meaning of life. 

The best explanation for the meaning of life I 

ever heard came from the words of Dr. Alexander 

Papaderos, as told by Robert Fulgham in his book, It 

Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It. Your parents may 

also know Fulgham from his more famous book, All 

I Ever Needed to Know, I Learned in Kindergarten. If 

they have never shown you that book, it is probably 

because they don’t want you to think that all the hard 

work you did at Hackley was a waste of time, and 

you were really done after kindergarten. Anyway, 

Dr. Papaderos was a professor of theology who lived 

in Greece during and after World War II. One year, 

Fulgham decided to attend Papaderos’ two-week 

seminar on Greek culture. The story then basically 

goes like this: 

On the last day of the seminar, Dr. Papaderos asked if 

anyone had any questions. At first no one spoke up. 

Then someone raise a hand and asked, “What is the 

meaning of life?” Now just a quick aside, as a teacher 

myself, I always ask at the end of every class if there 

are any questions. It is just naturally built into every 

teacher to do so. At times, we teachers will get some 

goofy question to which everyone will laugh, class 

will then end, and everyone will leave. For example, 

I was once asked at the end of a lecture on planetary 

motion, “Mr. McLay, if everyone in China all jumped 

up and down at the same time, would it cause a tidal 

wave that would flood the west coast of the United 

States?” (Yes, that was an actual question from a 

student of mine.) 

So, when this student asked Dr. Papaderos, “What 

is the meaning of life?” everyone naturally started 

to laugh and then proceeded to get up to leave. 

However, Dr. Papaderos raised his hand to indicate 

that everyone should stay seated, and then proceeded 

to give his answer. He began by telling a story about, 

as a child, finding pieces of a broken mirror from a 

wrecked motorcycle. What he quickly discovered was 

that he could use this mirror to reflect the light of the 

sun anywhere he wanted. What fascinated him the 

most was that by doing this, he could use this mirror 

to shine light into dark places. 

OK, so what does this story have anything to do with 

My Wish or the meaning of life? Well to start with, 

let me tell you about light. Light is one of the most 

unique things in the universe. Nothing travels faster 

than light, and no object with mass can even travel as 

fast as light. Light is produced by excited atoms. Our 

knowledge about the universe itself comes from the 

observations of light. 

Most of us only know light as what comes from 

the sun, or a light bulb. We also assume that in the 

darkness, we can’t understand anything, because there 

is no light. Yet light comes in so many forms. Right 

now, we are giving off light in the form of infrared. If 

it were pitch black, we would be giving off this light. 

Sure, we may not be able to see it, but any pit viper 

snakes that were around would see it. In X-ray light, a 

supermassive black hole, billions of times the size of 

our sun, can be viewed by astronomers. 

Yes, even the darkest location of the universe, a black 

hole, is revealed through a kind of light. And with 

that light comes the knowledge and understanding of 

how stars form, how galaxies organize, and gives us a 

glimpse into the future of our own galaxy. 

So, light is energy and a source of knowledge, but 

what does it have to do with the meaning of life? 

Well, no matter what you read or hear told about the 

meaning of life, what lies within all of these ideas is a 

fundamental need for truth, knowledge, and understanding. 

At the heart of science itself is the eternal 

search for truth, knowledge, and understanding. 

Scientists are great at explaining how the universe 

works, but we really don’t know “why” it works. 

Ultimately, that is our greatest goal, to figure out why 

everything in the universe works the way it does. 

But to do all this, we must shine light on everything. 

That which is left in the dark can never be understood. 

So, as a teacher of science, I take the other words of


Dr. Papaderos, as related by Robert Fulgham, to heart. 

“I came to understand that I am not the light or the 

source of the light. But light—truth, understanding, 

knowledge—is there, and it will only shine in many 

dark places if I reflect it. I am a fragment of a mirror 

whose design and shape I do not know. Nevertheless, 

with what I have I can reflect light into the dark places 

of the world—into the black places in the hearts of 

men—and change some things in people. Perhaps 

others will see and do likewise. This is what I am 

about. This is the meaning of my life.” 

For a time, I thought of myself as the light. Through 

teaching, I viewed my job as shining my light into the 

dark places of my students’ minds. Then it dawned on 

me: I was not the light. I was the mirror. You see, all 

of you were the light. 

Light is created by excited atoms. You all came 

seeking knowledge with this kind of excitement. 

However, a flame cannot see its own brightness, so 

it was my job to reflect your own light back to you. 

Never let go of that excitement, and your light will 

never fade. Whether it is through music, art, science, 

writing, teaching, or guiding your own children one 

day, keep your light shining bright, even when you 

find yourself in dark times. 

And if you find yourself in dark places, seek the light 

of others. Yet keep in mind that sometimes light 

cannot directly shine into a dark place. So, you all also 

have a responsibility to be the mirror when the need 

arises. Thus, one way or another, you will all have 

the ability to ensure that light can shine into the dark 

places of the world, and hopefully find meaning to 

your life. 

Now for My Wish to all of you. If you were paying 

attention, I had a song play before I came to speak. It 

is called “My Wish,” by Rascal Flatts. The song goes 

on to say: 

My wish, for you, is that this life becomes all that you 

want it to, 

Your dreams stay big, your worries stay small, 

You never need to carry more than you can hold, 

And while you’re out there getting where you’re 

getting to, 

I hope you know somebody loves you, and wants the 

same things too, 

Yeah, this, is my wish. 

Jeffery Steele from the band wrote it for his 13-yearold 

daughter because, “I was just thinking about how 

crazy the world is right now for a kid to grow up in. I 

started writing it like I wanted her to know whatever 

she did in life, somebody was thinking about her all 

the time. Someone was always behind her no matter 

what.” All of you are leaving here during some pretty 

crazy times in the world. So, while you are out there 

“getting to where you’re getting to,” I want you to 

know that everyone here is behind you, especially me. 

Everyone at Hackley knows the words that former 

English teacher Arthur Naething would tell his 

students at the end of each of his classes, “Go 

forth and spread beauty and light.” It was a way of 

reminding his students that they should take who 

they are out into the world and make it a better place. 

I have always liked that the word “light” appears in 

his statement. With that, I would like to leave you, the 

Class of 2017, with my version of Naething’s words, 

my wish, and the meaning of life: 

Go Forth and Shine Light into the Dark Places. 

Thank you. 

The story of Dr. Papaerdos comes from Robert Fulgham’s 

book, It Was on Fire When I Lay Down on It. Some of the 

story has been paraphrased, with other parts directly 

quoted. 

The story of the writing of “My Wish” comes from an 

interview with the band Rascal Flatts found on the website 

The Boot: Rascal Flatts, ‘My Wish’—Story Behind the Song 

http://theboot.com/rascal-flatts-my-wishlyrics/?trackback=tsmclip

9 

Class Day Awards 

Class Day is a Hackley tradition in which the student body and faculty gather 

together to acknowledge the end of another year full of success and achievement, 

but also of struggle and hard work. Doing your best as either a student or a teacher 

requires a lot "unreserved effort," which is a character trait mentioned in Hackley’s 

mission statement. The school community gathers to honor that effort, and 

congratulate all our students for what they have accomplished. 

Visit 

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Oscar Kimelman Award 

Melissa Stanek 

Awarded by the Class of 2015 to the 

teacher who has most contributed to 

their own subsequent progress. 

Mary Lambos Award 

Rebecca Garfield 

Awarded to a Middle School teacher, 

nominated by his or her peers, for 

excellence in teaching. 

The Ron DelMoro 

Award in Teaching 

Rick Diaz 

Awarded to a Lower School Teacher, 

nominated by his or her peers for 

excellence in teaching. 

Lower School students sing the Alma Mater at Class Day. 

Anton & Lydia Rice 

Inspirational Teaching Award 

William McLay 

Serves as Senior Dinner speaker, 

chosen by the Senior class. 

The Robert Pickert Award for 

Coaching Excellence 

Jenny Leffler 

New this year, recognizing coaching 

excellence, nominated by peers. 

Yearbook Dedication 

David Sykes 

Chosen by the Class of 2017 

The Hilltop Award 

Dr. Ron Delmoro 

Selected by the vote of the graduating 

Lifers to an employee providing ongoing 

and unique contributions to the 

community. 

Community Council Award 

Alexandra Murray Meyer '17 

Awarded to the Council member who 

made the greatest contribution to the 

Council’s activities.


Middle School Subject Awards 

Sarah S. '21 

English 

Oliver G. '21 

History 

Sophia T. '21 

Spanish 

Jonah G. '21 

French 

Austin B. '21 

Latin 

Sebastian D. '21 

Chinese 

Simone S. '21 

Art 

Ava R. '21 

Chorus 

Kiriann F. '21 

Music 

Kiara A. '21 

Drama 

Pauline M. Gillim Library & 

Reading Award 

Hannah L. '21 

Arthur Niles King Science Award 

Hannah L. '21 

Capt. Charles M. Kelly, Jr. & Ethel 

Kelly Mathematics Award 

Anthony L. '21 

Community Music Awards 

Uriel Arturo Garcia '17 

Band Ensembles 

Deborah Christina Ro '17 

Chamber Ensembles 

Aurora Elena Straus '17 

Vocal Ensembles 

Ira Seebacher Scholarship 

Photography Award 

Christian Xavier Riegler '17 

Awarded to the student whose work 

in photography has over three years 

achieved the highest distinction in 

technical skill and artistic vision. 

Class Of 1938 History Award 

William James Goldsmith '19 

Awarded to a Sophomore for the most 

distinguished essay in History. 

The Class of 1972 Community 

Service Awards 

Maxwell Kent Rosenblum '20 

9th grade 

Amy Elizabeth Chalan '19 

10th grade 

Christopher John Augustin '18 

11th grade 

The “Lifers” in the Class of 2017 voted to give the Hilltop Award to Dr. Ron DelMoro. His family—Deena, Dan, and Steve, shown 

here with Steve Bileca—returned to accept the award in his memory.

CLASS DAY 

11 

Junior Subject Book Awards 

Chad Hunter Lasseter '18 

English 

Samhitha Ratna Josyula '18 

History 

Julia Donette Stewart-Wood '18 

Latin 

Jasmine Grace Bayrooti '18 

Connor Jensen Larson '18 

Math 

Ijeoma Ezeihe Nwokorie '18 

French 

Alexandra Bailey Griffen '18 

Spanish 

Francesca Maria Docters '18 

Chinese 

Vinay Rao Bijoor '18 

Science 

Jasmine Grace Bayrooti '18 

Technology 

Demetra Alexis Yancopoulos '18 

Visual Arts 

Retired coach and Director of Athletics Rob Pickert presented the first annual 

Pickert Award for Excellence in Coaching to Jenny Leffler. 

Valedictorian 

Isabella Cacdac Ampil '17 

Salutatorian 

Uriel Arturo Garcia '17 

Class of 1921 Athletics Trophy 

Winston Edward Britton, Jr. '17 

Awarded by the Athletics Department 

to a male for distinction in Upper 

School athletics. 

Albert R. Dupont Award 

Taylor I. Robin '20 

Presented to the outstanding ninthgrader 

for distinction in any or all 

phases. 

Headmaster’s Award 

Wyatt Anders Khosrowshahi '17 

Performance, sportsmanship, and 

leadership on and off the athletic field 

has set an example for all Hackley 

students to follow. 

Varsity “H” Award 

Jonah G. '21 

Lara S. '21 

Presented by the Varsity “H” Club 

to the Middle School students who 

have done the most for athletics at 

Hackley. 

McIlhenny Bowl 

Luisa Stalman '17 

Awarded by the Athletics Department 

to a female for distinction in Upper 

School athletics. 

Laurence Symmes Award 

Kiriann F. '21 

Most constructive Middle School 

student. 

Class Of 1936 Cup 

Amy Elizabeth Chalan '19 

Presented to the outstanding 

sophomore for distinction in any or 

all phases.


Michael Wirtz presented the Miller Bowl honoring notable 

improvement of mind and attitude to Hadassah H. ‘21 

Andy King presented the Miller Bowl honoring outstanding 

spirit of cooperation to Matthew Bonanno ’17 

Miller Bowls 

Jack Kaplan Clark '17 

Hadassah H. '21 

Honoring notable improvement of 

mind and attitude. 

Bujana Mulosmani '17 

Sebastian D. '21 

Honoring consistently kind & 

courteous conduct 

Matthew Peter Bonanno '17 

Lara S. '21 

Honoring an outstanding spirit of 

enthusiasm and cooperation. 

Hackley Bowl 

Chad Hunter Lasseter '18 

Outstanding Junior boy. 

Hackley Mother’s Association 

Bowl 

Francesca Maria Docters '18 

Outstanding Junior girl. 

Steven A. Frumkes Award 

Hope Patricia Weisman '17 

Recognized by vote of the Senior class 

as the “friendliest” Senior. 

Mrs. Frederick W. Sherman Book 

Prizes 

Malcolm Stewart Roesser '17 

Classics 

Samuel James Leonard '17 

English 

Samuel James Leonard '17 

History 

Olivia Whitman Giacomo '17 

Modern Language 

Alexander Popov '17 

Mathematics 

Camille Harker Butterfield '17 

Visual Arts 

Findlay William Drew McCombe '17 

Performing Arts 

Christopher Brian Thompson '17 

Clay Sullivan '17 

Technology 

Royal A. Clark Memorial Award 

Benjamin Harris Renton '17 

Stanley Pennock Prize in Science 

Alexander Popov '17 

Alan Seeger Prize in Writing 

Hope Patricia Weisman '17 

Class of 1963 Charles Tomlinson 

Griffes Award 

Carolyn Miller '17 

Bruce F. Roberts Scholar-Athlete 

Award 

Camille Harker Butterfield '17 

Richard Perkins Parker Memorial 

Cup 

Amanda Lloyd Patterson '17

COMMUNITY COUNCIL 

13 

20ı6–20ı7 Athletics Awards 

Community Council 

2017–18 

Soccer 

GIRLS’ 

Joy Morgan Dracos ’17 

BOYS’ 

Samuel Ross Rinzler ’17 

Capt. Charles M. Kelly Jr., 

Cross Country 

BOYS’ 

William Walker Crainer ’19 

GIRLS’ 

Olivia Nicole Curran ’19 

Stanley B. Pennock, Football 

Winston Edward Britton, Jr. ’17 

Mark Jin-Young Ohm Memorial, 

Football 

Jordan D. Patrick ’17 

James C. Reilly, Football 

William Biddle Cotter ’17 

Field Hockey 

Alexandra Murray Meyer ’17 

Squash 

GIRLS’ 

Riya Mital ’17 

BOYS’ 

Wyatt Anders Khosrowshahi ’17 

Frederic W. Neilson, Wrestling 

John Webster Kneisley, Jr. ’19 

Fencing 

BOYS’ 

Christopher Brian Thompson ’17 

GIRLS’ 

Tyler Joule LaRoche ’18 

Manuel Sanguily ’50, 

Boys’ Swimming 

Liam Patrick Bogart ’18 

Ryan Christopher Schaum ’18 

Charles T. Bates ’49, 

Girls’ Swimming 

Georgia Aaron Panitz ’18 

Basketball 

BOYS’ 

William Kirby Ballentine ’17 

Golf 

BOYS’ 

Wyatt Anders Khosrowshahi ’17 

GIRLS’ 

Hadley C. ’21 

Maurice H. Lindsay, 

Track & Field 

GIRLS’ 

Luisa Stalman ’17 

BOYS’ 

Onyedikachi Kenneth Ohia-Enyia ’18 

Indoor Track 

BOYS’ 

Onyedikachi Kenneth Ohia-Enyia ’18 

GIRLS’ 

Ivie Eleonora Uzamere ’17 

Harry M. Cook, Baseball 

Christopher Lee Wahrhaftig ’17 

Softball 

Dana Grace Van Buren ’19 

Herbert A. and Charles M. Allen, 

Lacrosse 

Kevin Hyun Min Kim ’17 

Bruce D. Hislop Lacrosse 

William Chandler Jones ’17 

Girls’ Lacrosse 

LiliAnna Khosrowshahi ’18 

Tennis 

BOYS’ 

Samuel James Leonard ’17 

GIRLS’ 

Fiona Josefine Boettner ’19 

PRESIDENT 

Francesca Docters 

VICE PRESIDENT 

Michael Mezzacappa 

SECRETARY/TREASURER 

Matt Shalett 

SENIOR CLASS PRESIDENT 

Ben Moskow 

SENIOR CLASS REPRESENTATIVES 

Ijeoma Nwokorie 

Geogia Panitz 

SENIOR CLASS AGENT 

Patrick Walker 

JUNIOR CLASS PRESIDENT 

Paul Peruzzi 

JUNIOR CLASS REPRESENTATIVES 

Grant Albright 

Zaya Gooding 

JUNIOR CLASS AGENT 

Matthew Jean 

SOPHOMORE CLASS PRESIDENT 

Ben Marra 

SOPHOMORE CLASS REPRESENTATIVES 

Taylor Robin 

Emily Afriyie 

SOPHOMORE CLASS AGENT 

Emmy Wenstrup 

BOARDING REPRESENTATIVES 

Eli Hankin 

Julia Stewart-Woods 

BOARD OF MAGISTRATES: 

Seniors 

Homer Gere 

Alex Wenstrup 

Lei Anne Rabeje 

Ellie Arnold 

Cecilia Pou 

Connor Larson 

Hallie Robin 

Bridget Barsanti 

Juniors 

Matt Fisch 

Max Mallett 

Samantha Rosenstein 

Isabelle Thomas 

Sophomores 

Jordan Miller 

Erin Lynch 

Conor McMahon 

Alex Garcia


Commencement Addresses 

The 2017 Commencement Address by Allison Pataki ’03 is reprinted in the Summer 2017 Hackley Review. 

Watch the video here. 

Visit our online galleries 

to view and download 

more photos: 

Pre-ceremony 

Commencement 

The Salutatory Address 


Uriel Arturo Garcia ’17 

Before I commence this Commencement, I want to offer a sincere welcome to the 

Board of Trustees, Mr. Wirtz, Mr. King, the faculty, the families, but most of all to my 

fellow students, the Hackley Class of 2017. 

Now, I stand before you all both honored and anxious 

with the job of delivering a unique speech, which did 

not seem hard until last Tuesday when I finally forced 

myself to sit down and write this one. Over the past 

four years, but especially the last week, my beloved 

grade has been subjected to numerous speeches that 

covered everything from the meaning of life to the 

small, unsexy things that matter in this world. While 

those speakers had years of experience, I’m just a 

kid. Often, I would stay up late saying to myself, 

“Think, Uriel Arturo Garcia,” as if I were my own 

mother scolding me. Finally, I decided to talk about 

the freedom that awaits us at the end of this ceremony 

and a few anecdotes. 

This freedom gives us the ability to manipulate our 

own lives to the manner in which we want them to be. 

For example, most of our class is going to college this 

coming fall. The rest will attend college the following 

year and in the meantime take interesting gap years 

that will lead them to, hopefully, grow as people while 

also learning. On the other hand, one lucky person in 

our grade will be beginning the college process this 

coming fall because the person decided for whatever 

reason to wait. At first, I thought “what a moron,” but 

now, I see that he is simply taking control of his own 

life, and good for him. He will get valuable work and 

traveling experience that will help him have a firmer 

grip on his own path that will lead him where he will 

want to go instead of walking on a narrow road with a 

set start and end location. 

With freedom, we can choose what to study. We 

decide what we are going to learn, and I wish my 

peers will pick some out-of-the-box classes, if you will, 

such as cooking, dancing or maybe learning how to 

drive stick. This brings me to my first story. I was in 

México with my cousin on a farm. He was teaching 

me how to switch between the first and second gear. 

Anyways, as he was doing that, he started convulsing 

on the wheel. We were on a narrow road between a 

30 feet ditch filled with water and a smaller one that 

separated the road from the crop field. I took the 

shaking wheel and pushed it so that we landed on

COMMENCEMENT 

15 

the smaller one. I rushed out, gave him CPR, and 

when the seizure stopped, I carried him over my 

shoulder for a mile to the farm house. Now, the point 

of the story is not that I am just as awesome as you 

have been thinking. Rather, there are two lessons: 

first, you never know when you are going to use the 

information that you have learned throughout your 

life. I gave him CPR a month after we all took the 

class at the end of junior year. Second, you never 

know what kind of experiences a “class” can give you. 

Freedom allows us the opportunity to make or not 

make good choices. Frankly, for the bad choices, there 

is a learning curve, and everything has a consequence. 

I would know because I have made bad choices over 

the years, and here is one of them. Sometime in 

spring a peer changed his profile picture to support 

Palestine. Normally, I just leave things alone like 

that because it is not my place to intervene, but in a 

zealous mood, I decided to challenge him because 

I believed that he was mocking the whole situation. 

It turns out that he was not, and that spat was now 

public on Facebook with any person that had us 

as friends being able to view it. I felt dumb, bad, 

embarrassed, terrible, and I apologized. I decided 

between deleting my comments or not, and I chose 

the latter option not because I wanted everybody 

to see this moment of my own idiocy because my 

class gets enough of that on a daily basis. I did it for 

two reasons. One, once it is on the internet, it stays 

there. Two, I wanted that to be a lesson to others 

but especially to me to think really carefully before 

clicking “post.” Nobody likes to admit that they have 

made a mistake much less on a public forum or event 

like this, but trust me, it is way better to reconcile 

than to behave stubbornly and deal with that nagging 

guilt for the rest of your life. 

Finally, the freedom that will arrive as soon as Izzy 

finishes her speech will, at first, stun us because we 

will not be accustomed to not going to school every 

single weekday from eight to three and then some if 

you do a sport, club or another extracurricular. Then, 

the freedom may come to dominate you so that you 

soon lose track of yourself. As we begin our first steps 

into the real adult world, we must come to find a 

balance with this newfound libertad or libérté. While I 

was doing a month-long study abroad in Jordan during 

my sophomore summer, I found myself with a lot of 

downtime. The first couple of days, I just stayed home 

in Amman because I was frightened to walk around 

by myself in a foreign country. Even with most of the 

power and responsibility being in my own hands, I 

limited myself. That, however, was not wasted time 

because I spend it with my host family over the dinner 

table, watching TV, talking and playing cards. Then, 

however, I explored. I took long walks and ended up 

in hundreds of places. I walked on highways, beneath 

bridges, parks, mosques... you name it. One night, 

I did not get home until three a.m. And, I lost the 

relationships that I had formed with my host family 

during the initial week I was there. 

Do not get caught up in freedom and cut your ties to 

the past—to friends, Hackley, home—because you 

will lose yourself, your roots and wits. It is hard to 

strike a balance, and I am not saying that I found, 

much less created, a formula for you to follow. Just try 

your best to not be a stranger, especially to those who 

were with you in the beginning. Nevertheless, I know 

that all of us will change, hopefully for the better in 

whatever shape that happens to take. 

Speaking about choice, I am so delighted that I 

decided to come here in sixth grade, and never have 

I ever looked back because of you, the faculty and 

the students. My whole grade and I owe a lot to the 

teachers here who inspired us in the classroom 

because every student at Hackley can and will find 

at least one teacher that will guide them under their 

wing. If you ever wonder why we say thank you at 

the end of every class, it is because you are helping at 

least one of us in a special way. While we’re thankful 

for the knowledge you give, we will always be more 

grateful for the support and help than anything else. 

So, thank you once again from me and my fellow 

classmates. 

Last but not least, I am going to miss you guys with 

all of my heart. I just mentioned the faculty, but most 

of my favorite memories have been with you. I was so 

lucky to be placed with you and to have known every 

single one of you. We’ve made it this far, so let’s enjoy 

the last minutes that we have left as Hackley students 

before we become official Hackley alums. 

Congratulations Hackley Class of 2017. Now, let’s go 

get those diplomas!


The Valedictory Address 


Isabella Cacdac Ampil '17 

Friends, family, faculty and staff, fellow graduates: thank you for being here today. 

And thank you to those who helped us get here. We are better, fuller people for all 

the ways you’ve touched our lives—as parents, teachers, and friends, as members of 

B&G, Flik, and the custodial staff, as siblings, relatives, and neighbors. 

Looking out across the crowd, I am struck by the 

enormity of what we are leaving. Whatever the taste 

left in your mouth on this morning—joy or pride, 

regret or nostalgia, anxiety, loyalty, or love—this day 

is a testament to your resilience. Class of 2017, it is 

my honor to address you in the last few moments of 

our existence as a collective us, a single unit, one body 

breathing a final sigh of relief. I’m proud to have been 

a part of it with you. 

We are mere minutes away from an era of 

unprecedented control over our own happiness. 

We are about to start managing for ourselves our 

roommates, our classes, our newly discovered free 

time; we alone will be painting in the first and 

broadest strokes of our new lives. 

But let’s put that on pause for a moment and consider 

when we first arrived. Many of us came to Hackley 

before we were old enough to decide what we wanted, 

far before we had any say in the matter. And those of 

us who did decide to come here maybe shouldn’t have 

had any say in the first place. As Mr. McLay reminded 

us on Monday, we all have our humble roots as idiot 

freshmen. 

And so in the years since our staggered arrivals, we’ve 

been fueled mostly by hope for a future happiness, 

for a picturesque high school life. We had these 

idealized notions of adolescence, constructed when we 

were young enough to believe that 18 year olds were 

giants—near-perfect creatures settled into lives they 

wanted and loved. We hoped each year that this would 

be our year; that we could at last carry ourselves with 

the imagined self-assurance of those 18 year olds, to 

live uninhibited but still grounded, explosive in our 

ambition and our talent. 

It didn’t quite work out like that. There was always 

this drama with friends or that test gone wrong or 

the dark cloud of college apps hanging overhead. Our 

hopes bumped up against the walls of reality more 

often than not. As we rose through the Hackley ranks 

like those before us, it didn’t feel the way we thought 

it would. We struggled to find the certainty that they 

seemed to exude. We kept looking over our shoulders 

to see if those around us knew as little about what 

they were doing with their lives as we did.

COMMENCEMENT 

17 

And no, we didn’t really think we’d be perfectly 

happy by now, but can we be blamed if, secretly, 

subconsciously, we did? We were aspiring to 

something larger, a superhuman future in a pictureperfect 

life. But in doing so we forced ourselves to 

never settle. It made us humbler, more aware of how 

far we had to go, but that made us demand more 

from ourselves and elicit more from each other. And 

if we look back now, we see how much further we’ve 

come just by striving for that life so far beyond our 

reach. Maybe we’ve moved in a different direction 

than we’d hoped, and likely with more detours along 

the way, and surely not quite as far as we’d dreamed, 

but nevertheless we’ve grown by leaps and bounds. 

We aren’t those superhumans we used to think that 

18 year olds were, but of course we know now that 

neither were they. 

So my wish for us, my relentless, spirited, talented, 

ever-evolving class of 2017, is that wherever we have 

fallen short of our old hopes, we find no bitterness. 

Rather, I hope we feel a greater drive to become who 

we want to be, to forge more fulfilled selves. Whatever 

that means to you—reaching higher, pushing harder, 

or pursuing that dream you never thought could 

be more than a hobby. I hope we recognize the 

impossibility of that old picture-perfection, and I hope 

that we channel whatever energy might have been 

wasted on regret into self-betterment. We are, after 

all, more responsible for our happiness now, more in 

control. Use that; savor that. 

And where our lives have diverged from our old 

hopes, let us be grateful for the turns in our lives 

we couldn’t control, those that emerged later as 

opportunities. Coming to Hackley was, for many of 

us, a choice beyond our control that we made the 

best of and came to love. Once here, we endured 

disillusioning troubles, times spent wrestling with 

relationships gone sour, or grappling with sudden 

failure where we used to excel, or mourning private 

losses that we could not share. We endured. So even 

as we gain control over our lives, may we be open 

to the inevitable lapses in certainty. In high school, 

in situations we couldn’t control, guided only by 

this hope for happiness, we stumbled into such joy. 

May we recognize how much better we are for the 

unplanned incidents that have altered our course. 

Now here we are, worlds away from our old visions 

for ourselves. In some ways, we’ve fallen short of 

those hopes. Perhaps because our hopes shifted with 

us, and we ended up chasing different dreams. But 

in many ways we have outpaced those old visions, 

becoming better than we ever thought we’d be. For 

that, may we be filled with unapologetic pride. In 

years to come, we’ll continue rising. But for now, in 

these last few moments where we remain Hackley 

seniors, not yet Hackley alums, let’s just say, without 

condition, we’ve made it. 

So wherever you stand compared to that old vision 

of yourself, the one you conjured up standing at the 

threshold of the freshman hallway, or your fifth-grade 

homeroom, or the door of the little octagon where 

the Lower School used to be—wherever you stand in 

relation to that vision, know that today’s freshmen and 

fifth-graders and Kindergarteners admire you. They 

see in you those same giant, near-perfect creatures. 

They see every point of pride in the lives you’ve earned 

through hard work and unflinching self-reflection. 

If you don’t see it, they do. Your teachers do; your 

parents do. The people sitting next to you—they 

absolutely do. We spent so long comparing ourselves 

to this superhuman standard that when we finally 

knocked it down, we realized we didn’t have to lower 

it all that far. We found ourselves in the company of 

incredibly impressive people. You know that reverent 

tone you use, admiring the project, the race, the song 

of some classmate who isn’t around? It’s the same 

tone we use on you. And it makes you, however 

briefly, a little bit superhuman. 

And now, we are just breaths away from this new era. 

So before we take off into the greater world, let me 

say thank you once again. On behalf of every member 

of the class of 2017, thank you to those who helped 

us stumble into ourselves, who made for us the best 

choices we couldn’t make ourselves. Thank you to those 

who helped fulfill our hope for happiness, who brought 

us to this point where we can now design happiness for 

ourselves. Rest assured that your efforts, and our twists 

and turns, have come to beautiful fruition. 

Because in this moment, as we step out into the 

world, we are ready.


Fourth Grade Recognition Day 

Anne Ewing Burns, Director of Lower School, shared these thoughts with members of the fourth grade and their families at 

Recognition Day, June 7th, 2017. 

I have been sharing my thoughts at graduations for years, carefully crafting a 

message for the moment, most likely never to be recalled again. It’s ok, I’m a forgiving 

type and my feelings aren’t easily hurt but it occurred to me recently that I could 

write something that each of you would definitely remember at least some of. How 

did I accomplish this feat, you may be asking? Because in essence, you told me what 

to say when you answered a few simple questions. I have the results to share with 

you, and the data on what is most important to you as a class. So here goes… 

The top two things that you are most grateful for 

during your years in the Lower School are—can 

anyone guess? Your teachers—and, your great friends. 

You are also wrote that you are grateful for: “Fun 

games in PE”; “The time a third grader helped me 

when I was sick”; “The library for giving me the joy of 

reading”; “The lunch staff”; “For feeling as if I have 

become a better person in Lower School and how 

much I have improved while I was in Lower School’; 

“For the small classes and the privilege of going to 

Hackley”; “For the space in the Lower School and 

the space outdoors”; “For my kindergarten buddy”; 

and finally, one person wrote “I am grateful for the 

fascinating education and all the choices I have had.” 

When I asked you how you would describe 

your teachers, the top answers were “Amazing, 

outstanding, extraordinary, and awesome”; “Fun and 

funny”; “Kind, caring, thoughtful”; and “Smart.” 

Other words you used were “Supportive,” 

“Personable,” “Joyful,” “Optimistic,” “Friendly,” 

“Inspiring,” “Fair,” “Creative,” and, I would add 

that clearly they have helped you to broaden your 

vocabulary! 

When asked what you will always remember from 

your time in the Lower School, there were four that 

were most popular. They were “My teachers,” “Field 

Day,” “All my friends,” and “Plays and performances.” 

Other memorable events and moments that you feel 

you will always remember were field trips, projects, 

learning, playground and recess, your first day at 

Hackley, “Putting up the flag in the morning,” Library 

time, Mini recitals , and finally, “How helpful and 

kind everyone is.” 

When asked what would make you smile when you 

remembered it resulted in the top two choices: Parties 

and Mrs. Szabo, whom many of you had in third 

grade. You mentioned many other teachers whose 

memory would make you smile because of their 

superhero themed classroom; Their funny dances 

and funny jokes; the help they gave to you in each 

subject; their love for Winnie the Pooh and clay; their 

invention of the ‘oh snap’ rule; and, finally, their 

always being there for you when you needed them. 

And last but not least, as I bid farewell to you and 

your time in Lower School, I asked you to reflect on 

your hopes and dreams for your years to come in 

Middle School. Listen carefully, Ms. Jean, as I am 

sending this wonderful class into your care, and I am 

counting on you to make all their hopes and dreams 

come true (but no pressure!) 

The top three winners for hopes and dreams were “To 

get good grades” (that undoubtedly will please some 

of the parents and grandparents in the audience); “To 

make new friends”; and “To meet new teachers who 

are as amazing as those you had in Lower School.” 

You hope that you will have more independence, that 

teachers and students will be kind, that recesses will 

be long, and that you will be able to join debate and 

drama clubs. You also hope you will be able to get 

toppings for the frozen yogurt (that was proposed by 

our new fifth grade representative, by the way, who is

RECOGNITION CEREMONIES 

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The Class of 2025 

clearly thinking ahead about the things she will do to 

enhance Middle School). 

One person’s goal is to surpass his brother’s sports 

record. Another wants to be the best student he can 

be, as well as not continue to lose his stuff all the 

time. And finally, several of you wrote that you hope 

Middle School will be as fun as Lower School. 

Your reflections warmed my heart and we will miss 

you next year, but Middle School will embrace and 

welcome you and I know that your hopes and dreams 

will come true. 

Director of Middle School Cyndy Jean welcomed our new rising Fifth Graders, challenging them to explore 

and create. 

Sometimes in the middle school I launch these silly competitions—it might be to think of the best handshake 

or list the different ways one can use a paper clip. I know it sounds bizarre, but I am always amazed 

at what my students come up with. Your ideas are boundless! And when you come together to collaborate 

and create, it’s astonishing how much you can dream up and achieve! I want you to explore this summer—write 

stories, design a new game, invent something, bake, build, ask questions. I hope you come 

back next fall and share those new ideas and new inventions with me. Remember, there are no rules, don’t 

hold back, let your imagination soar.


Eighth Grade Recognition Day 

This year’s eighth grade chose Math teacher Dianne Fahy ’92 as their Recognition Day Speaker. 

It is an honor to join all of you this morning to celebrate this wonderful group of 

students and this important milestone for the class of 2021. You are as academically 

focused and hard-working a group as I’ve encountered on the Hilltop, with high 

expectations for yourselves and levels of self-determination rarely seen in people so 

young. Many of my colleagues have spoken over the years about raising the levels 

of their classes to meet your sophisticated learning goals. You are, as they say, so 

“coachable,” so eager to show you can grapple with the hardest problems and most 

complicated issues. 

Your passion to excel—academically, artistically, 

musically, athletically—has pushed us all to be better, 

and I can honestly say I am a better teacher because of 

you. You care so much, have so much drive, so much 

desire to get it right, that it has pushed me to carefully 

consider your forthright feedback and try new 

techniques I never would have conceived without you. 

I’ve often spoken about the rule of three. And it is 

often summarized this way: 1/3 of all doctors will be 

a positive match for you, 1/3 will be a neutral match, 

and 1/3 will be a negative match. The class of 2021 is 

easily one of the most positive matches for me. I am, 

like you, passionate about getting it right. I am, like 

you, not one to shirk my responsibility or blame my 

lapses on others. Like you, I work hard every day, try 

to give it my all each time, and when it doesn’t go as I 

had hoped, look back to figure a better way forward. 

That you match me in that process step-for-step has 

made you a dream to work with. And it is why I’ve 

felt for the last two weeks so heavy-hearted, or so like 

we’ve been breaking up. 

Your seriousness of purpose, whether it be for the 

pencil-man video or an algebra project, has shown 

us all you are ready for the challenge, responsibility, 

and leadership opportunities that will come to you in 

Upper School. But before you go, I want to be sure 

you consider two things and be wary of one thing. 

And I tell them to you because they are exactly the 

things I too need to consider and be wary of. 

Item to consider #1: Whatever you do, do it with love. 

I used to think the most important thing to do was 

to find something you love to do and pursue it. In 

fact, about 10 years ago, I gave one of these end-ofyear 

talks to the Cum Laude scholars—those seniors 

elected by the faculty for their outstanding academic 

work. And I thought the most important thing to 

tell young, dedicated scholars like them—and like 

yourselves, like me—I thought the most important 

thing to tell them was to pursue what they love 

despite what others might tell them about what they 

should love. I’ve spent my time building my life to get 

to do what I love and I am very proud and continually 

renewed because I have crafted my life that way— 

following a path that would get me to a place where I 

could do what I love. 

But I’ve realized, thanks to you, that that is actually 

not the most important thing. 

Do a thing well. You and I get that. Do what you love, 

and it will be easier to do it well. You and I get that too. 

But see, really, the most important thing is that 

whatever we are doing, we should do it with love— 

even the things you don’t love doing, even the 

intermediate steps that are getting you to the places 

and positions you yearn for. You and I—we are going 

to do it well. That is a given. But do it with love. That’s 

the thing we should both keep in mind.

RECOGNITION CEREMONIES 

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The Class of 2021 

And there are two particular times when we most 

need to stay heart-centered. The first is when we 

look back, when we do that inevitable post-mortem. 

Because like me, you are very tough critics, of yourself 

and of those around you. And like me, much of your 

energy is focused in the mind. So when we get an 

assignment, a role in the play, a debate topic, a semifinal 

game, a speech to write, you and I pin so much 

of our energy onto that impending project’s results 

that we forget to be compassionate with ourselves 

and others in receiving the results. We forget we are 

not the grade, or the semi-final game, or the project, 

or the debate or the speech. We are dedicated people 

doing our best and we need to give ourselves that love 

separate from the outcome. And we need to model 

that to others by giving that love to them, separate 

from the outcome. That’s our challenge, to not let 

our mind take over the center of us, to remember to 

stay heart-centered, and show compassion and love to 

ourselves and others—separate from the outcome. 

And the second time when we most need to filter our 

thoughts with love is in our inevitable judgements 

about outcomes, particularly outcomes that did not 

involve us directly or for which we have no direct 

knowledge. We practice this kind of big-heartedness 

often—when you help a friend organize a locker for 

the umpteenth time or give a pep-talk to a friend 

who gets sidelined from sports due to an injury. But, 

because you and I are such a motivated bunch, there 

have been times when we have gotten so caught up 

in our own efforts that we have focused more on 

offering what others need to do rather than just being 

with them where they are. 

And this leads me to the item for which we need to 

be wary. Cautionary note: it’s not all about you the 

individual. Because you and I work so hard, it is easy 

for us to think that where we are is a measure solely 

of our own efforts. And then we dangerously extend 

this over-simplification to others, assuming where 

they are is solely a product of their own efforts. 

It would be so much easier to be able to assume the 

output is solely determined by your own input. Sure, 

we each have a part in it, a big part, maybe even the 

biggest role. But it can’t possibly be determined solely 

by just one input. When it goes right, it can’t possibly 

be just all on us. And when it goes wrong it can’t 

possibly be just all on something else. 

I get the irony here. We spend so much time in 

Middle School working to help you gain self-advocacy 

skills and personal agency in your learning progress. 

Take that with you—those are valuable skills that 

will serve you well here on the Hilltop and beyond. 

But remember, too, that it wasn’t my last class on


Friday afternoon that was awesome—it was OUR 

last class on Friday afternoon that was awesome. It 

wasn’t just a good activity picked by your teacher, 

but also your willingness to listen to each other’s 

failures and successes in that activity that made it yet 

another outstanding way we got to spend our Friday 

afternoon, together. 

As you continue on to the Upper School, try not 

to dismiss the misses, the lapses, the times that 

don’t quite work as examples of others simply not 

putting in the right kind of effort or of not really 

understanding our Hilltop ways. Try to call in, rather 

than calling out, those who seem to not fit the image 

you have of what it is that makes our community here 

on the Hilltop. Because at its heart, that is what makes 

our Hilltop great—united, we help one another. We 

all get so much further than we could ever get just on 

our own and through our own lenses or under only 

our own power thanks to that spirit of united effort. 

And that leads me to my final item to consider: it was 

real; it is all real, none less or more than the rest. 

Don’t let anyone convince you it wasn’t real. There is 

a tendency to say, “Oh, that was just middle school.” 

Don’t believe that cynical dismissive take on our 

time together. Rather, trust your heart and know, 

the triumphs…. They were real. The losses through 

these years…. They too have been real. And the gains 

through these years, the surprises, the fun, the pain, 

the learning, the moments of joy: all of it has been 

real. Thank you for keeping it real, for working with 

such dedication throughout our time. 

Know that I love you and our time and adventures 

together; not your results, but YOU, and the heartcentered 

journey we’ve taken together. 

Congratulations and thank you. 

Director of Middle School Cyndy Jean sent the Class of 2021 off to Upper School with these last words: 

What I want for you is not just “success” in the broad sense of the word but for you to have courage. I 

see it in you, in the ways you have cared for one another, in the ways you speak out about social justice, 

and in the ways you have taken academic risks. There will be so many new experiences waiting for you in 

the next four years—many of them exciting and some that will require you to dig deep. Personally, I turn 

to Maya Angelou’s words in moments like these in my life and if it’s not too corny, I will leave you with 

one of my favorite quotes. “Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage you 

can’t practice any other virtue consistently. You can practice any virtue erratically, but nothing consistently 

without courage.”

SECTION 

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Congratulations to the Class of 20ı7! 

Shayan Argrette Ahmad 

Isabella Cacdac Ampil 

Salik Awan 

William Kirby Ballentine 

Lucy Alison Barse 

Matthew Peter Bonanno 

Kristen Elizabeth Bringsjord 

Winston Edward Britton Jr. 

Camille Harker Butterfield 

Madison Kelly Chen 

Andrew Kendrick Chung 

Jack Kaplan Clark 

Jackson Spencer Corrigan 

William Biddle Cotter 

Meghan Irene Macrae Cunningham 

Fernando H. Docters 

Joy Morgan Dracos 

Sabrina Esther Fleishaker 

Justin Kai Forstmann 

Owen Faulkner Friesen 

Uriel Arturo Garcia 

Olivia Whitman Giacomo 

Ashley Elizabeth Halloran 

Michael Paul Hanlon 

Sunya Hassan 

Eleanor Fearnaught Henrich 

Grace Cook Henrich 

Craig Alexander Johnson 

William Chandler Jones 

Rina Jung 

Wyatt Anders Khosrowshahi 

Kevin Hyun-Min Kim 

Joseph Roger Lawton 

William Zachary Lenihan 

Samuel James Leonard 

Olivia Grace Listokin 

Sarah Beth Lucente 

Findlay William Drew McCombe 

Tina Anjali Mehrotra 

Alexander Paul Mercurio 

Alexandra Murray Meyer 

Catherine Marie Meyer 

James Robert Meyer 

Tyler Anthony Meyer 

Carolyn Barere Miller 

Riya Mital 

Bujana Mulosmani 

Amin Abdul Mustefa 

Marisa Rose Nakagama 

Angus William Parton 

Jordan D. Patrick 

Amanda Lloyd Patterson 

Alexander Popov 

Lisha Angela Malolos Rabeje 

Benjamin Harris Renton 

Christian Xavier Riegler 

Michaela Lorraine Riegler 

Samuel Ross Rinzler 

Deborah Christina Ro 

Malcolm Stewart Roesser 

Akash Navid Samad 

Josephine Tomasi Sasso 

Jordan Alexander Schwartz 

Brooke Ashley Schwidel 

Sarah Nicole Schwidel 

Isabelle Connery Sellon 

Olivia Paige Selmonosky 

Tyler Sexton-Holtmeier 

Amari Peter William Sherrill 

Ryan David Smith 

Luisa Stalman 

Amanda Caroline Stern 

Aurora Elena Straus 

David Winchester Streit 

Clay Sullivan 

Stephen Elliot Tannenbaum 

Christopher Brian Thompson 

Seth David Tilliss 

Hannah Marshall Urken 

Ivie Eleonora Uzamere 

Theodore Michael van Eck 

Tucker Frederick van Eck 

Christopher Lee Wahrhaftig 

Steven James Wahrhaftig 

Cory Mendel Weinreb 

Hope Patricia Weisman 

Gabriel Benjamin Welch 

Jack Oliver Weyndling 

Connor Steven Wilke 

Lila Mandana Wolfe 

Roya Mina Wolfe 

Morgan Elena Zepf

HACKLEY REVIEW 

293 Benedict Avenue 

Tarrytown, NY 10591 

A Commencement tradition: Mrs. Siviglia passes out Altoids to all takers.

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