Our Town’s 24th Annual Graduation Issue Week 1: Cate School

It was all “Go Rams!” with parents and families attending Cate School’s 113^th graduation held on Sunday May 25, at 10 am, outside at the school campus in Carpinteria. The just under three-hour ceremony began with the graduates’ traditional processional wearing the school colors of blue (boys) and white (girls), arm-in-arm in pairs. Music was by the Cate School Orchestra playing “Pomp and Circumstance” by Edward Elgar, arr. by John Whitney. 

Head of School, Alexandra Lockett, welcomed the guests and called the graduation to order. She wore a lilac dress with flowers of the same color as those on her podium. Lockett introduced history teacher and humanities faculty Lisa Holmes for the Invocation. Holmes quoted from the poem “Praying” by Mary Oliver, and said, “The invocation is an opportunity for us to center ourselves. I invite you to think of the next few minutes as a kind of prayerful reflection. These soon-to-be graduates are the center of our prayers.” She reflected on the school campus grounds, school as the family it becomes for them, and the opening question to all Cate School attendees, “How did you get here?”

Next, Head of School Lockett provided her remarks for the graduates. She began, “I’d like to start with an example of a strange chapter in wartime history where a group of artists proposed to paint the ships in wild patterns and colors. The ships were called dazzle ships, and sought to confuse the enemy by standing out, not hiding. You are graduating into a world where machines are replicating answers. Now what is being asked of you are answers only you can give. The Romans believed each person was accompanied through life by a genius, a guardian spirit assigned at birth. It works through you, the angel only you can see. And when I was in a discussion on AI poetry with two students, they said, ‘It’s [AI] superficially perfect but doesn’t make you feel anything.’ To the Class of 2026, dare to dazzle, stand out in service of something larger, dazzle in ways that are unrepeatable, more humane and more alive. We are so proud of you! Congratulations.”

The graduates vote for their peer who will give the commencement speech. This year it was Andrew Peng. He thanked his classmates for trusting him to make today’s speech, thanked his fellow Cook House West dorm residents, and on behalf of the graduates, thanked the faculty and staff. He talked about Mr. Cook, the 2026 distinguished Cate alumnus, who said Cate School is like venture capital, an endless cycle of investments and windfall returns. Peng, “When I first heard this, comparing Cate to winning a lottery, I thought, I hope I have the winning ticket. I won’t deny the likening of Cate students to Silicon Valley startups – which are run mostly by college students with nothing more than a dream and a Claude code subscription – seemed pessimistic to me. Three out of four venture caps fail. When I look at this class I’m filled with hope. If you were an ETF, I’d smash my piggybank to invest in you. There are three main arguments to back this up. In our time at Cate, we figured out how to be at home, finding it in yourself. Each of us is talented in unexpected ways. We are athletic, smart, creative, humorous, and everything in-between. We have hidden brilliance. We have found our people at Cate, collaborators with whom to build our life, partners we can trust and lean on. My gain is not someone else’s loss. Cate is an investment that pays dividends. In business, ‘Moat,’ is a company’s ability to maintain a structural long-lasting advantage. Cate School class of 2026, you have a huge moat. Go out there and change the world. I’m betting on you.”

Next, Lockett introduced the annual awards as follows:

W. Burleigh Pattee Fellowship: Tracey Calhoun, Faculty

Centennial Award: Clair Dahm, Faculty

The Circumspice Fellowship: Emma Henderson, Faculty

Stephen Spittler Cup: Dr. Jamie Kellogg

The Jeffrey Sumner Pallette ‘88 Award: Ian Sheshunoff

Santa Barbara Scholarship Cup: Claire Ziebart

The Ellis Cup: Lauren Hubbs

Morgan Gwynne Temby Award: Ramya Bangaru

The Miramar Award: Flora Adair and Philip Choi

Charlotte Brownlee ‘85 Cup: Mo Kanda-Gleeson

Ben Williams Inquiry Award: Lucian Tann

Dohrmann Pischel Medal: Elise Tsai

The Nelson Jones (Class of 1948) Medal: Lorelei Roof

Santa Barbara School Medal: Barron Crayton

Head of School Award: Elise Tsai and Jenevive Won

William Shepard Biddle Cup: Ian Sheshunoff

Additionally, The William New Jr. ‘59 Servons Award was given to Dan Emmett, a Lifetime Cate School Trustee.

The final speaker was the Faculty Address, given by English Faculty Member, Michael Szanyi.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 2026 graduates are:

Flora Adair, Dinmukhamed Anuarbek, Emil Arconian, Luke Ashiku, Ramya Bangaru, Kiyan Barry, Claire Bianchi, Sebastian Brine, Joshua Butler, Noah Casbarro, Elsie Chamberlain, Oliver Charvel Enthoven, Chloe Chen, Xin Ran Chen, Philip Choi, Alexander Choi, Thomas Claypool, Graham Clinger, Barron Crayton, Marshall Davidson, Charles Dorion, Fallon Erickson, Emerson Evans, Aidan Free, Alex Gallegos, Salar Ghumman, Harper Halbardier, Maia Ella Holmes, Lauren Hubbs, Nika Iverson, Eric Jin, Montgomery Kanda-Gleeson, Hayley Kliman, Carmen Lack, Evangeline Little, Madeline Losey, Mohammed Kamil Suhuyini Abdul Losey, Tristan Maigret, George Marin, Gweneth McTigue, Christian Meyer, Brady Mogensen, Tania Molina, Halimat Oloritun, Oyindamola Opawumi, John Paige, Braeden Parker, Ashwin Patel, Tree Payne, Yuan Peng, Rosita Power, Serena Ratcliff, Sofia Ridgway, Lorelei Roof, Jordan Ryan, Krisha Jayna Sevilla, Jasper Shelmerdine, Ian Sheshunoff, Elias Smith, Chenlisha Sun, Lucian Tann, Quincy Thorne, Elise Tsai, Perrin Veltman, Jenevive Won, Jae Wykoff, Samuel Young, Alex Zhang, Zimo Zhang, Claire Ziebart, and Alizee Zielina.