23rd Annual Graduation Issue Week 1: Cate School

The Cate School’s 112^th graduation – “Go Rams!” – was held on Sunday, May 25, at 10 am, outside at the school campus. The ceremony began with the graduates’ processional from the field to their grandstand seating area to the accompaniment of “Pomp and Circumstance” by Edward Elgar, arr. by John Whitney and performed by the Cate School Orchestra. 

Head of School, Alexandra Lockett, welcomed the guests and introduced Michael Szanyi, English & Humanities Instructor, for the Invocation. He said, “Take three collective breaths, inhale presence, curiosity, and action. An invocation sets intention and grounds people to a place. I would like to call in courage, care, compassion, connection, truth, and hope.” 

Lockett provided her Head of School remarks saying, “My advice for you today is this: carry the spirit of this place with you. Carry its rhythm. Its heartbeat. Press it into the corners of wherever you go. Make space for joy. For connection. For play. For inquiry. 

To the Class of 2025: May you go forth with courage. May you seek beauty, create value, and leave things better than you found them. And if you happen to ever forget, remember, you’ll always find your way home through Beauty, Virtue, Play, Quiet Study, Hard Work, and Service. Congratulations, Class of 2025. We are so proud of you. We will miss you. Thank you.”

Nathan Newlove (‘25) gave the Senior Address. He shared about being in Mr. Pierce’s last class at Cate, and how during that class, faculty and admin came by to honor him. Newlove reflected on how Pierce may have felt saying, “I wonder what went through his mind. From the moment before the applause and before the future. I feel the class of 2025 is facing that right now. The time we spent together at Cate is too meaningful to be viewed as a series of events. The future is not something you wait for, it’s something you create.”

Next, the annual awards were presented by faculty, students and Lockett: 

William New, Jr. Class of 1959 Servons Award: Lisa Stanson (’92) Trustee

Jeffrey Sumner Pallette ‘88 Award: TJ Weir

The SB Scholarship Cup: Alison Wang

Ellis Cup: TJ Weir

Morgan Gwynne Temby ‘69 Award: Daisy Gemberling

The Miramar Award: Cody Mast

The Brownlee ‘85 Cup: Stella Rogers

Ben Williams Inquiry Award: Nicholas Forry

Dohrmann Pischel ‘14 Bronze Medal: Samantha Jimenez

Nelson Jones ‘48 Silver Medal: Mike Barrera

SB School Gold Medal: Peter Lehman

Head of School Award: Joba Samson

William Shepard Biddle ‘18 Cup: Colette Chang

The Faculty Address was given by English Dept. Chair Nicole Sintetos where she talked about Plato, and the nature of education, saying, “Here are the faculty who have delighted in teaching you, who have fought to make each of you feel seen and loved, and that you grow and trust your voice.”

Diplomas were awarded by Lockett and the faculty members, with a statement about each student’s attributes and contributions. Following a collective congratulations of the class by attendees, the grads processed out to a receiving line. The event concluded with a luncheon at the school.

The Cate School 2025 graduates are:

Nyle Ahmad, Stephanie Foluke Akinfolarin, Maggie Regnaud Albrecht, Samuel Anum, Mike Barrera, Tallulah Nadja Bates, Hudson Bonsignore, Henry Joseph Bouma, Adeline Christine Bracher, Baye Breene, Christian James Busse, Uriel Beltran Campuzano, Colette Tse-Ling Chang, Zachary Coulter, Sophia Cruz, Max DeVore, Zyla Dhillon, Sanai Nicole Edwards, Sienna Charvel Enthoven, Alexander I. Espinoza, Zoë Flint, Nicholas Alexander Forry, Johnny Foster, Brooke Sydney Friedman, Jacob Elton Gabbay, Daisy Aldyn Gemberling, Ethan L. Gibson, Zachary Bailey Goins, Marco Antonio Gomez, Kylee Greene, Mia Caroline Groeninger, Lucy Jane Guilbert-Neal, Lucas Huiner, Nico Huiner, Peregrine Anne James, Samantha Jimenez, Jeeyou Jung, Henry Thomas Koepp, Nicholas Koh, Peter Charles Lehman, Elías Lieser, Joshua Taylor Ludviksen, Cody Mast, Kate McCoy, Eli Meisel, Jailyn Mejia, Grant Mitchell, Valerie Madriz Montero, Nathan Fisher Newlove, Mack William Nieman, Sophia Steen Ospina, Madeleine Patrick, Avery Polynice, Quinn Pullen, Ethan Carl Rehnborg, David Stow Saimasina Rissel, Stella Ray Rogers, Colby Mapanao Roof, Oluwajoba Samuel Samson, Marcus Scudder, Yangchen Lhamu Sherpa, Christopher Soto, Zadin Alexander Stephens, Phineas Stephenson, Harry Su, Francesca Vivien Sok Yin Sutch, Riley Valente, Anneke Nellie van Lynde, Quinn Cohen Vanasco, Ziyu Wang, TJ Weir, Lillian Sperry Whelan, and Benjamin White.