2016 Presentation of Students Awards

Jessica L. James, Director of Communications and Advancement

May 28, 2016

During the 51st Commencement Exercises the following awards were bestowed to students. Academic Dean, Mr. Eric Gaylord, and Head of School Aaron Schubach introduced each of these honors.

Longevity Awards

The longevity awards are given to those who entered CSS either in Kindergarten or PreSchool. These students have been important members of our community from start to finish. To present the awards this year was preschool teacher, Lee Hesselberg, former preschool and Kindergarten teacher, Michelle Williams Gates and former Children’s School Administrative Assistant, Eleanor Walters. The Class of 2016 had seven students who received the longevity award –

Enrolled in Pre School in 2000, we honor Geddy Marple with the Longevity award.
Enrolled in Preschool in 2001 we honor Jake Ford with the Longevity award.
Enrolled in Preschool in 2001 we honor Kristen Gardiner with the Longevity award.
Enrolled in Preschool in 2001 we honor Michael Gohde with the Longevity award.
Enrolled in PreK in 2002, we honor Abby McCreery with the Longevity award.
Enrolled in Kindergarten in 2003, we honor Maddy Hocate with the Longevity award.
Enrolled in Kindergarten in 2003, we honor Diana Mansour with the Longevity award.

Highest Academic Achievement

Eric Gaylord, Academic Dean, shared, “Our next award, The Highest Academic Achievement Award is given to the student who has earned the highest overall grade point average for the 2015 – 2016 school year. Please come forward when I call your name. To date, this Junior has completed 5 AP classes here at CSS and has a weighted GPA of 4.79973.

The Highest Academic Achievement Award in Upper School for the 2015-2016 school year is awarded to Sarah Katherine Weidman ‘17.

Faculty Cup Award

The Faculty Cup award was presented by Dr. John Longo, Upper School Division Lead.

“The winner of this year’s Faculty Cup will come as no surprise to many of you. When a student puts his gifts to creative and meritorious uses, beginning at about age 7, it’s hard to keep any secrets about it, even when he never blows his own horn.

It all started when he was in second grade. His ease with computers led to a very early fascination with how they work, and this led to a long conversation with the crazy things, speaking their language and helping them help us. While he was still in Middle School, he was already taking classes at UCCS, and while in Upper School, he found himself hobnobbing with the experts at Cox Lab at Harvard, where he began collaborating on projects involving machine intelligence. MIT also made use of his skills, and the Labs at UCCS have kept their claws in him throughout high school. At the present time, he is on the paid staff of Harvard, where he has spent the last two Experience Centered Seminar terms.

For a serious computer science student, he has a very well rounded high school resumé. In Upper School, he has held elective positions in every class, covering president, secretary, and treasurer. He has played the flute with the school band all four years, he has served as a Greeter and a Student Ambassador, and has, of course, lifted the Robotics Club to impressive heights.

He has also applied his business sense to starting two impressive charities. “Michael’s Bags” delivers food packages to the homeless, and “Michael’s Cancer Care Kits” takes free bundles of helpful items to hospital patients recovering from radiation therapy. We can’t imagine a high school student using his gifts in a more positive way. This year’s Faculty Cup Award goes to Michael Gohde.”

The Margaret White Campbell Award

One of the highest honors that we bestow on a member of the Senior Class is the Margaret White Campbell Award. This year, the award was presented by the 2012 recipient of the Margaret White Campbell award Ms. Kurstyn Morley ‘12.

“Given in honor of the founding headmistress of the Colorado Springs School, Margaret White Campbell, The Margaret White Campbell Award is given by the Upper School Faculty for academic excellence, leadership, service to the CSS community, and general character.”

At this time, Head of School, Mr. Aaron Schubach read the award citation and announced the deserving recipient.

The 2016 recipient of this high honor is a student who has been impressing her teachers for more than 14 years. Her Children’s School teachers remember her as positive, kind, and generous, and possessing an amazing smile. In the Upper School, teachers and students wonder if she ever had a bad day; if she did, she certainly never let it show. Her never-ending cheer and positivity imbued the school community with energy, whether she was acting as Spirit Coordinator or skipping along the quad on a break from her many AP exams. It is impossible to stay in a bad mood when you are anywhere near this remarkable student.

Academically, she was always at or near the top of almost every class she took, and she left her mark on a dizzying variety of extracurriculars, from theatre, to Forum—where she served as President—to Model UN, where as secretary she was in charge of logistics for two conferences that brought students to CSS from all over the world.

In her four years in the upper school, she was fortunate enough to travel to Peru, Cambodia, Vietnam, Slovakia, and Tanzania – and on all of these trips, we could not have asked for a better ambassador for our school. She excels not only in her dedication, organization, and hard work, but also in her spontaneity and spirit of adventure.

The 2016 recipient of the Margaret White Campbell award is Kristen Gardiner.