Saturday’s Pennington School’s 175th commencement exercises for the Class of 2016 graduated 105 seniors, representing five states and five countries outside the United States.
Emma Bouton of Pennington and Quincy Huang of Princeton were valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively.
Headmaster William S. Hawkey granted the diplomas. Peter J. Tucci, Pennington alumnus and chair of the school’s Board of Trustees, gave the commencement address. Tucci’s twin daughters, Marissa and Sabrina, are members of the Class of 2016.
At commencement, valedictorian Bouton, who was inducted into the Cum Laude Society last fall, received the award for the senior excelling in English. She will attend Brown University next year.
Salutatorian Huang, also a fall inductee into Cum Laude, was one of eight seniors recognized with the new Gateway Prize to the seniors “who best exemplify Pennington’s core values of honor, virtue, and humility.” After taking a gap year in Colombia, Huang will attend Georgetown University.
Both Bouton and Huang were among the first 22 students to earn a certificate in the school’s program in global studies.
Morgan Pinado of Carversville, Pa., chair of the senior class committee, was presented 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.”
Among the senior prizes presented, the Charles G. Bennett ’59 Memorial Award for School Spirit was shared by Madison Coyle of New Hope, Pa., and Jameson Yang of Skillman. Emily King of Lawrenceville and Emmanuel Nwandu of Snellville, Ga., shared the school award for outstanding citizenship.
Two teaching prizes were presented to members of the faculty. 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 given to Philadelphia resident Marc Epstein, teacher of history and Advanced Placement government and politics, who began here in 2010.
Receiving the inaugural Robert E. Martini Award for Distinguished Teaching was six-year faculty member Adrienne Papa. This award will be given each year to one whose teaching takes students’ individuality into account and who makes a significant impact on students’ lives. Papa, who teaches in the school’s Cervone Center for Learning, lives in Hamilton Square.
Mr. Tucci, a resident of New Hope, Pa., is an equity partner with the law firm Fox Rothschild LLP, where he specializes in mergers and acquisitions. He serves as chair of the firm’s International Practice Group and co-chair of the firm’s Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group. In addition to Pennington, he serves on numerous for profit and not-for- profit boards. In 2005 Mr. Tucci was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honor, France’s most prestigious award. He is a graduate of Georgetown University and the Georgetown University Law Center.
The Pennington School is an independent co-educational school for students in grades 6 through 12.
Graduates from New Jersey:
Allentown: Alexander K. Hannani;
Belle Mead: Matthew Egbert, Jeffrey Kolivodiakos, Alexander Lamb, Zachary Lamb and Samir Navani;
Bordentown: Olivia McCutcheon;
East Windsor: Rahul Kumar and Tynan Mayer;
Ewing: Kendra Plummer and Moses Vigo;
Guttenberg: Vivek Rajan
Haddonfield: John Freeman and William Freeman;
Hightstown: Kevin J. Maley;
Lambertville: Kerry Runkle;
Lawrenceville: Kevin Barkley, Emily King, William Luke, Megha. Sullivan and Karolina Zachor;
Millstone: Christian Tringali;
Pennington: Brian Aker, Emma Bouton, Isabella Brass, Satchel Cortet, Thomas Horsley III, Wyatt Kop’Kash, Patrick McLaughlin, Audrey Plimpton, Katharine Quinn and Duncan Zavanelli;
Pittstown: Austin Wilson;
Plainsboro: Meredith Davies;
Princeton: Asher Carlson, Andrew Coe, Quincy Huang, Andrew Mavis, Ian Nelson, RobertO’Connell, Thomas Pecora, Cole Valente, Isabelle Varga, Alesandro Walker and Alexandra Zimmer;
Princeton Junction: Emma Kramer, Drew Panson and Kenneth Pepper;
Skillman: Joseph Gallagher, Clare Long, Connor McAuliffe and Jameson Yang;
Summit: Timothy Kennedy Jr.
Titusville: William Saul;
Trenton: Dave-Michael Velasco;
West Windsor: Daniella Giancarli.
Graduates come from five states, Brazil, China, South Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam.
