In commencement exercises for the Class of 2015 on Saturday, June 6, The Pennington School graduated 91 seniors, representing four states and five countries outside the United States.
Niral Ramesh of Princeton Junction and Nathan Zavanelli of Pennington, were valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively. Headmaster William S. Hawkey granted the diplomas, and Sintelle Taylor, whose son, Isiah, is a member of the Class of 2015, gave the commencement address.
At commencement, valedictorian Ramesh, who was inducted into the Cum Laude Society last fall, received the award for the senior excelling in science and shared the award for the senior excelling in mathematics. He will attend Rice University next year.
Salutatorian Zavanelli was presented the award for the senior excelling in German and shared the award for excellence in mathematics with Ramesh and Cedric Abano of East Windsor. He, too, qualified for induction into the Cum Laude Society last fall. Zavanelli will attend the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Lauren Brown of Yardley, Pennsylvania, and Nicholas Bunn of Princeton shared a signal honor, the Headmaster’s Award to the Best All-Around Student, recognizing “that member of the senior class whose distinguished scholarship and dedication to a variety of extracurricular activities has set a memorable example for us all.”
The Charles G. Bennett ’59 Memorial Award for School Spirit was shared by Brian Booth of Princeton, Harrison Cohn of Short Hills, and Amanda Dafonte of Pennington. Sara Clark of Lawrenceville and Thomas Cosgrove of Princeton shared the School Award for Outstanding Citizenship.
The Henry and Selma Otte Distinguished Teacher Award, given annually to a full-time teacher with at least five years of teaching experience at The Pennington School, was also presented during commencement. This year’s recipient is mathematics teacher Nancy Brunner, who also served as advisor to a number of seniors. A graduate of Trenton State College (now The College of New Jersey), Ms. Brunner joined the faculty in 2007; she is a resident of Robbinsville.
Commencement speaker Sintelle M. Taylor, a Princeton resident, is an educator and diversity and inclusion specialist. In 1990 she co-founded The Steppingstone Foundation in Boston, Mass., a not-for-profit organization that develops and implements programs to prepare underserved students for educational opportunities that lead to college success. She was the foundation’s executive director for six years before becoming a full-time diversity counselor.
She has been board chair of Legal Outreach in New York City for the last eight years. A graduate of UCLA, with a bachelor’s degree in political science and master’s and doctoral degrees in psychology, she has worked in admissions at her alma mater and in various capacities with independent schools and corporations.
Ms. Taylor also earned her Diplôme de Cuisine in 2007 from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, and today she is the owner of A-TaylorD Affaire Gourmet Catering in Princeton.
Other local graduates included: Joseph Marsala-Williams and Aaron A. Wilson of Allentown; Nora A. Murray, Nicholas Pontillo and Simon Wan of Belle Mead; Marcus Bruccoleri of Bordentown; Kristyn L. Green of Ewing; Michael Luciano, Luis D. Mena Villegas and Peter A. Spadaccini of Hamilton; Alexandra J. Tringali of Hamilton Square; Brendan L. Dowling of Hillsborough; Robert A. Demaree of Hopewell; Joshua D. Hauser of Lambertville; E. Lukas DiGiacomo, Mary Gray Seiler and Rosemarie K. Taylor of Lawrenceville; Alessandra M. D’Amour, Amanda Dafonte, Zachary J. Dowdie, Andrew B. Gurick, Hailey Pendergrass, William E. Soccorsi and Brooks U. Sproul of Pennington; Casey D. Betlyon, Brian R. Booth, Nicholas W. Bunn, Kevin M. Dillaway, Yangeng Jiang, Joseph M. Jingoli, Austin Kuppek, Isiah T. Taylor and Gavrielle A. Weiss of Princeton; Brett Schenkman and Margaret A. Slonaker of Princeton Junction; and Caroline E. Bonfield and Bethany Reim of Skillman.
