Sending forth the Class of 2021

Families, friends, and classmates gathered on Zoom on the eve of Commencement weekend to fete seniors for a long list of accomplishments during the School year.

Hosted from Linn Hall by Head of School Julia Heaton, the Senior Awards Ceremony offered end-of-year recognitions for class and school leaders, service to the community, academic achievements, and all-school awards.

The event opened with an amazing video from the ninth-graders, included a performance by the a cappella singing group Grace Notes, and featured a Sending Forth Ceremony with words of wisdom offered to graduates from the MHS faculty.

Among the evening’s highlights:

• The Joseph F. Buerger School Spirit Cup was presented to Celcie Tetteh ’21

• The Margaret Witherspoon Award to Jiho Shin ’21

• The Christine Fuller Holland ’33 Service Prize to Shannon Foster ’21

• The Faculty Commendation Award to Shairai Richards ’21

• The Sylvia “Rusty” Shethar Everdell ’38 Prize to Nicole Forman ’21

Meus Honor Stat Keys were awarded to seniors representing each of the four MHS Core Competencies of Vision, Voice, Interpersonal Efficacy, and Gumption. Keys were presented this year to seniors:

• Alessandra Alicea, Vision

• Diana Sobolieva, Voice

• Hannah Holt, Interpersonal Efficacy

• Jiho Shin, Gumption

Student Leaders for 2021-22 were introduced:

• School President Cailyn Tetteh ’22

• Vice President Truc Hoang ’22

• Secretary Christina Zheng ’22

• Treasurer Julianna Jia ’22

• Social Committee Head Randi McGeary ’22

• Diversity Coalition Heads Shirley Dong ’23, Kathleen Nguyen ’22, and Viola Quiles ’23

• Athletic Association co-Heads Jenelee Saldaña ’23 and Bethania Robertson ’23

The 2021-22 Proctors will be Rose Aloo, Kathryn Barrett, Sam Dean, Sundara Hesse, Neylan Johnson, Sam Kangethe, Olivia Kick-Nalepa, Emily Lombardi, Ruby McDonald, Hava Methe, Phuong Tran, and Ivy Zhou.

Senior Class President Nya Mielke announced the class gift: a donation to Junior Class Ring Scholarships to use toward the purchase of school rings.

The Gold Team, by a score of 5,958 to 5,797 — a mere 161 points! — won the 2020-21 Madge Buerger Blue/Gold Cup.

Grace Notes sang two selections — “Rather Be,” by the group Clean Bandit, and “This is Not Goodbye,” by the Sidewalk Prophets, with the group's seniors — Chelsie Li, Jiho Shin, and Dorit Wang — performing their final number together.

Wonderful!