Hilltop Happenings

-Written by President of the Salisbury Chapter Cum Laude Society Procter Smith P'05 

While nothing is “business-as-usual” this spring, the Salisbury community has shown determination and creativity in finding new ways to celebrate longstanding traditions. On Friday, May 21, the Salisbury Chapter of the Cum Laude Society became the latest Hilltop institution to use virtual technology to carry out its annual rite of spring, inducting eleven new members to the prestigious national organization, founded in 1906. Salisbury was granted its charter in 1959, joining what now numbers over 300 independent schools in recognizing preeminent scholars throughout the United States.

A tradition that distinguishes Salisbury’s Cum Laude Chapter is to honor each inductee with a personal tribute from one of the faculty members in the Chapter. These tributes recognize not only the inductee’s academic achievements during his Salisbury career but also other accomplishments that embody the organization’s three guiding principles: Arete, Dike, Time – the Greek words for Excellence, Justice, and Honor.

For this spring’s nine sixth-form inductees, Joey Bresette of Nantucket, MA, was presented by Mrs. Julia Barbato, a member of the World Languages Department; Michael Fairfax of Toms River, NJ, by Mr. Andrew Will, Salisbury’s Dean of School; Seth Gelwarg of Warren, NJ, by Mr. Christopher Russell, Chair of the History Department and Secretary of the Salisbury Chapter; Kyu Jin Jung of Seoul, Korea, by Mr. Toby Ayer, Chair of the Science Department; Robert Luo of Beijing, China, by Ms. Lisa Sheble, a member of the Philosophy and Religion Department; Vu Duc Ngo of Hanoi, Vietnam, by Mr. Roger McKee ’72, P'19 a member of the Art Department and Salisbury’s Senior Master; Sunday Phitprom of Prathai, Nakhonratchasima, Thailand, by Mrs. Trudy Pzynski; and Brandon Roughley of Dalton, MA, by Mr. Procter Smith P'05, a member of the English Department and President of the Salisbury Chapter. Ryan Jing of Richmond Hill, Ontario, Canada, was also cited as the sole inductee from the Class of 2020 in May 2019. This spring’s two fifth-form inductees were Tianhao Luo of Rancho Palos Verdes, CA, who was presented by Mr. Russell, and Chuck Wang of Suzhou, China, who was presented by Mr. Ayer.

In addition to honoring the new inductees during the virtual ceremony, the Salisbury Chapter also formally invested two, new faculty members – Julia Barbato and Trudy Pzynski – both of whom accepted appointments this spring. And the Chapter bid an appreciative farewell to Lisa Sheble, whose twelve years’ service to Cum Laude and its mission will come to a close with her retirement next week. Lisa’s tenure was distinguished by a keen sense of fairness and a firm guiding hand in all of the Chapter’s deliberations.

This year’s ceremony was the 60^th such at Salisbury and brings the student membership of the Chapter to 355. The names of Friday’s eleven inductees will be added to the names already displayed on the Cum Laude plaques which line the first-floor hallway of Main.

Meet our 2020 Cum Laude Inductees.