Cum Laude Assembly: 'Be a Restoring Force'

Seniors Colin MacFaddin, Jack Parkin, and Alex Wada were inducted to the Cum Laude Society on Thursday, February 23.
 
Founded in 1906, the Cum Laude Society is dedicated to honoring scholastic achievement in secondary schools. In the years since its founding, Cum Laude has grown to 382 chapters.
 
The trio of senior boys joined last spring’s inductees and fellow classmates Bobby Carangelo, Tate Huffman, Keshav Raghavan, Andrew Rogozinski, and Nick VanBelle.
 
Assistant Headmaster for Academic Programs Rick Beattie ’80, a Brunswick faculty member in his 27th year, gave the keynote address to the audience of Upper School students and faculty.
 
Beattie’s remarks considered life beyond the regimentation of school — when it’s up to people to decide what they learn, what they observe, from where they get information, and what they discuss with others.
 
He encouraged everyone to retain a certain capacity for empathy — in a time and a place when it has never been more important.
 
“I tend to associate empathy with accessing a larger world — a world outside ourselves, outside our own experience, outside our own perspectives and realities. And that, in turn, can inform our perspectives and change our realities,” he said.
 
“Empathy is the restoring force. Empathy can pull us back to balance.
 
“Boys, we are on a crowded bus, and we have to learn ways to slide over and make room on the seat next to us for those who believe different things, have had different experiences, suffered different indignities and setbacks,” he said.
 
“Look to the larger world and be the restoring force. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but someday we’ll be counting on you. And I’ve known enough of you to know our faith in you is well founded.”
Back
 

 

 

    • Jack Parkin, Alex Wada, and Colin MacFaddin

Brunswick School Greenwich, CT

  • Upper School
    100 Maher Avenue
    Office: 203.625.5856

    Lower School
    1252 King Street
    Office: 203.485.3670
  • Middle School
    1275 King Street
    Office: 203.242.1202

    Pre School
    1252 King Street
    Office: 203.485.3652

Main Phone: 203.625.5800
Business: 203.242.1220 
Alumni: 203.242.1223

Quick Links

Main Menu

Support 'Wick