On May 30th, seventy-eight Cadets graduated in an outdoor ceremony that marked a second year of the Linsly School’s commencement observing COVID-19 protocols such as social distancing.
It was the finale to a school year that included a mix of in-person and remote studies, daily health check-ins and mandatory mask wearing. But, by the time the caps and gowns were out, there was also a degree of normalcy as Linsly students as young as the sixth grade are now eligible for vaccination and some restrictions on gatherings and mask wearing have been lifted.
Linsly’s 207th graduating class faced unique struggles in their junior and senior years; however, they succeeded in many ways nonetheless. Earning many awards and honors during high school and attending universities all over the country next fall, these Cadets persevered through the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Many awards were given during the ceremony, for accomplishments including academic achievements and responsibility. Those honored, and their respective awards, besides the valedictorian and salutatorian for the Class of 2021 were:
The Headmaster Award, given to that member of the senior class who, in the opinion of the faculty and Headmaster, through her display of leadership, academic excellence, and willingness to serve, acted as a model for all Linsly students, was presented to Molly Heron, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. George H. Heron of Hickory, PA. Heron will attend Dickinson College in the fall.
The Hofreuter Award, given to that member of the senior class who has been exemplary in her service to her school and community, in the tradition of Dr. Donald H. Hofreuter, Linsly Cadet Major, community leader and long time Chairman of Linsly’s Board of Trustees, was awarded to Sydney Glessner, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gary Glessner of Valley Grove, WV. Glessner will attend High Point University in the fall.
The Guenther Award, given to those members of the senior class who, in the opinion of the faculty and Headmaster, exhibit outstanding leadership, citizenship and character, given in memory of former Linsly student David Guenther, was awarded to Sydney Glessner and Cole Grimm, son of Mr. and Mrs. Steven Grimm of St. Clairsville, Ohio. Grimm will attend Embry- Riddle Aeronautical University in the fall.
The Theodore Scott Owens Award, given to those members of the senior class who, in the opinion of the faculty and Headmaster, exhibit the qualities of determination, seriousness, and persistence respected by all, given in memory of former Linsly student Theodore Scott Owens, was awarded to Lily George and Samuel Gorence, son of Mr. and Mrs. Ed Gorence of St. Clairsville, Ohio. Gorence will attend Ohio State University in the fall.
The Buncher Award, given to those resident students, who in the opinion of the Dormitory Masters, Resident Faculty, and Headmaster, exemplify that which is looked for in every boarding student, given in memory of the late Albert Buncher, father of Martin Buncher, former Linsly student, was awarded to Michael Flynn, IV, Joao Lima De Oliveira and Abolaji Oke. Flynn is the son of Mr. Michael R. Flynn, III and Mrs. Ivelissa H. Flynn of Escazu, Costa Rica. He will attend Rollins College in the fall. Lima De Oliveira is the son of Ms. Christina Lima of Niteroi, Brazil. He will attend Alderson Broaddus University in the fall. Oke is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Ajibola Oke of Hillside, NJ. She will attend the University of Miami in the fall.
A program continued by President Biden known as the “President’s Education Awards” is intended to recognize students who have attained a high level of academic achievement while pursuing a solid core of academic courses. Receiving this award were members of Linsly’s National Honor Society: Charlie Allison, Annabelle Blosser, Emily Coram, Madison Doughty, Mariah Doughty, Dylan Dunlevy, Heidy Duran, Steven Felton, Liza Fletcher, Cameron Frame, Sicheng Fu, Lily George, Isabella Giovengo, Sydney Glessner, Samuel Gorence, Cole Grimm, Molly Heron, Kaichen Jin, Justin Jokovich, Hunter Kelley, Spencer Knight, Xicheng Liu, Shane McCready, Aiden McPhail, Abolaji Oke, Everett Poole, Karena Recrosio, Tayler Reed, Jacob Richards, Emma Robinson, Matthew Rodenberg, Jadelyn Smerczynski, Brinley Steen, Zachary Taylor, Arman Toyserkani, Chengbo Zhang, Yongjie Zhang and Yining Zhu.
The Linsly Social Studies Award is given to that member of the Senior Class who has achieved an outstanding perception of Social Studies, and has attained the highest cumulative average in that discipline during her four year Upper School career at Linsly. This year’s recipient was Lily George.
The Robert W. Schramm Physics Award, given in memory of Henry Brown, former Linsly Military Institute Mathematics Department Head and the Linsly Mathematics Award, given to that member of the Senior Class who, determined by the Mathematics Department has attained the highest cumulative average in that discipline during his four-year Upper School career at Linsly was awarded to James Jin. In addition, Jin was named the recipient of The Linsly Mathematics Award, given to that member of the Senior Class who has attained the highest cumulative average in that discipline during his four year Upper School career at Linsly.
Molly Heron was named the recipient of The Gilleland Award, established in memory of Professor Brady Gilleland, recognizing a graduating senior who studied Latin and succeeded in her study.
Annabelle Blosser was named the recipient of The Linsly Science Award given to that member of the Senior Class who has attained the highest cumulative average in that discipline during her four year Upper School career at Linsly.
The recipients of The Max W. Laborde Award, given to those Senior English students who, in the opinion of the English Department, best met the standards set forth in the department were Lily George and James Jin.
The John Anwar Spanish Award is given in memory of Dr. and Mrs. Anwar’s eldest son, John, who passed away in 1991 when he was a senior at Linsly. This award recognizes the graduating senior who, through consistent dedication and hard work, has distinguished himself in the study of Spanish. Receiving the John Anwar Spanish Award was Matthew Rodenberg.
Remarks by Headmaster Justin Zimmerman, Valedictorian Kaichen (James) Jin and Salutatorian Lily George reflected that contrast between this commencement and graduating class from those of previous years. Here is what they shared with the Class of 2021:
Headmaster Justin Zimmerman
“Decades from now, when you reminisce with family and friends about your days at Linsly, you’ll talk about how your lives were affected by the pandemic; how abnormal became almost normal.
Who could have imagined 15 months ago that our lives could change so much and so quickly? To your credit, you adapted. You were resilient and resourceful. You sacrificed. You looked for ways to help others.
During the winter, we struggled when we had to return to virtual learning. But here we are — a degree of normalcy has returned. All of us face struggles sometimes in life. When those bumps or unexpected turns come your way, remember how hope pulled you through. Hope will pull you through again.
So who exactly is the Class of 2021?
You are academic achievers.
Your class has been accepted into 125 different colleges and universities. You will matriculate at 42 different colleges and universities in 12 different states and three different countries this fall.
Seven members of the Class of 2021 have earned the Distinction of AP Scholar by the College Board in recognition of your exceptional performance on Advanced Placement Exams. One senior, our valedictorian James Jin, was named a Finalist in the 2021 National Merit Scholarship Competition. Another senior, Annabelle Blosser, received the prestigious distinction of being named a Presidential Scholar Nominee in the United States Presidential Scholars Program.
You are athletes.
You are OVAC Champions, school record-breakers, All-Stars and even Players of the Year.
The Class of 2021 has bragging rights to six OVAC Championships including Golf, Boys’ Swimming, Girls Tennis, Girls Basketball, Girls’ Track and Baseball. And even more impressive, Baseball, Girl’s track, and Girls Tennis won every OVAC title possible while you were in high school. The OVAC cheer team won their 10th title in 2020, the last time they were able to compete, and would have surely brought home another OVAC title had there been a competition this year. And we certainly cannot forget your rein as undefeated powder-puff champions.
Sixteen of you have committed to continue your athletic careers at the collegiate level.
But most importantly, through it all, The Class of 2021 were cheerleaders for each other. You are artists, entrepreneurs, writers, volunteers, and community servants.
Under the leadership and vision of one member of the Class of 2021, along with the support of his senior staffers, the online version of the school newspaper, the Linsly Line, was successfully launched, and will continue, long after you graduate.
Many seniors involved in Ms. Leone’s Design Thinking and Entrepreneurship Class were instrumental in launching the ever so popular “Linsly Breakfast Bar” to offer our students special breakfast treats every morning. In addition, you partnered with local small businesses in our community and helped support them with your creativity and ingenuity during a difficult time in the economy.
But your work in our community didn’t end there.
You have used your talents and your time to serve as volunteers in our community. Whether it be helping a local non-profit, volunteering to help younger children read or volunteering at local nursing homes, the Class of 2021 is a community-minded group of individuals ready to serve.
But most of all, Class of 2021: You are, and always will be, a Linsly Cadet.
Today marks a milestone in your lives. You will soon leave your teen years behind and enter the bewildering world as adults. As you take this next major step in your lives, let me offer six thoughts that might help you in the future.
Be courageous. Be humble. Be positive. Be there for the ones you love. Be adaptable. Be
the hero in your life — not the victim.
My congratulations and sincere best wishes to each of you, the Linsly class of 2021.”
Valedictorian James Jin
“It is a great honor for me to speak to all of you today. Although, unfortunately, I cannot be here with you in person, I believe the bond that we have built and strengthened over the past four years is bringing us closer together to an extent that even time and space cannot break us apart.
Still, time flies. As if in the blink of an eye we have all grown from the innocent teenagers years ago into the mature individuals now. We have experienced a lot all together at Linsly. Squeezing those memories into one single speech will only make some of them lose their significance, and some of us will certainly fall asleep just like what we did during some classes.
Yet, some of the most precious moments cannot slip away unmentioned: the tug of war on those house days back then, and we hoped that our team could have more football players; we cheered together for our team in the field house, wishing to defeat our long time rivals; we went to LOC together, and we played ping-pong, enjoyed the high ropes, low ropes, night walks, and bonfires. Oh yeah, spoiler alert. We did write letters to ourselves back then, and if everything goes well, they should be visiting us soon.
Surely, these are only tiny portions of the great moments we spent together in the past four years. But aside from these memories, Linsly has taught us to be not only great students but also decent and respectful individuals. The six character traits on the HPL list are not merely letters and words that we need to write down to get a good grade for World History anymore.
Rather, thanks to the speeches and caring given by Mr. Zimmerman, Mr. Plumby, Mr. Wallace, and many other faculty members, we have truly learnt to behave in ways that embody those qualities.
Indeed, this year has been tough for many of us. As political tension increases around the world, we are sad to see that hatred, prejudice, and hostility are all spreading with an astonishing speed. As our life quality improves, so does our pace of living. We seem to be less patient and more prone to methods that directly display an impressive amount of power associated with those negative emotions.
Yet, amid all the chaos, the world now is lacking prominent leaders who are courageous enough to be the models in fighting against the anger-oriented part of our world and in honoring civil discourse to solve problems.
Thankfully, Linsly has prepared us to be responsible leaders. We have learnt to be leaders who manifest respect, kindness, and courage, and we are ready to contribute to the process of diminishing hostility and encouraging civilized conversations in the world.
Although we wish we could learn more at Linsly, sadly, as one Chinese saying goes: All good things come to an end. Here we are, at the end of our high school years. It is almost time to say goodbye to our beloved school and depart.
There is one final thing that I want to say before we start to embark on a new journey: that is, thank you, thank you and thank you all for your help, your support and your companionship in the past few years. Thank you, the Linsly Community. We will always be a big family.”
Salutatorian Lily George
“First, I would like to express my gratitude and appreciation towards the Linsly
community. Growing up as the daughter of a Linsly alum and the little sister of two Linsly students, I, in essence, lived on the Linsly campus. …As a Linsly lifer, I have spent the last eight years calling Linsly my home. Over those eight impactful years, I have made meaningful relationships with both my peers and the faculty that have influenced the student and overall individual that I have become.
This year, especially, has tested and magnified the importance of such relationships in life. Separated from one another physically, the Linsly community was fragile at the beginning of the year, yet creativity prevented complete fragmentation.
“Resilient” and “adaptable” describe the Class of 2021. Over the last four years, we have
welcomed and parted with various teachers and peers, resulting in excitement, frustration, and confusion. Furthermore, this year we encountered many disappointments, including missing out on sporting events and losing our Senior Homecoming, Extravaganza, and other similar traditions.
Yet, as we sit here together today, let us not dwell on those minor losses. Rather, let us
remember all that we have accomplished, celebrated, and enjoyed this year. We have won OVAC championships, screamed in both excitement and fear while riding roller coasters at Kennywood, survived white-water rafting, dominated powder puff football, and, most importantly, played intense spikeball games. As we sat outside during the 90-minute lunch period, we all witnessed the strengthening of our community.
We have lived through a lot and lost a lot. Nonetheless, we have learned a lot.
Above all this year, we learned and reflected a lot about ourselves. Frequently, we have
asked: “Who am I?” For many of us, this question is quite daunting. As teenagers, we do not know all of the answers. For many of us, we have been told who we are and what we should do. However, ahead of us lies uncertainty. We will encounter success and approval but also failure and rejection.
Educator and adviser Booker T. Washington once said, “Success is to be measured not
so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome.”
Class of 2021, look around and think about the obstacles you have overcome thus far.
Remember how you got here, sitting in front of me today. Please take the time to thank those who helped you overcome your obstacles, to thank those who helped you throughout your Linsly careers, and to thank your parents and families for their invaluable sacrifices in order for you to acquire a Linsly education.
Congratulations, the Class of 2021!”
