By Jonathan Hernandez ‘24
The Cum Laude Society was created in 1906 to honor scholastic achievement in secondary schools. It was modeled after Phi Beta Kappa which is the oldest academic honor society in the U.S. founded in 1776 to acknowledge academic achievement in postsecondary schools. Membership in the Cum Laude Society today is mainly in the US, but there are also chapters in Canada, England, France, Spain, Puerto Rico, and the Philippines with only 4,000 students inducted annually. Currently, there are 382 Cum Laude Society chapters with 94% of those chapters in independent schools like St. Mark’s.
In 1943, the Board of Regents of the Cum Laude Society authorized Headmaster William Brewster and eight other members of the St. Mark’s faculty to form the St. Mark’s chapter of the Cum Laude Society. On April 21, 1944, the first four members of the Cum Laude Society at St. Mark’s were inducted by the headmaster of Governor Dummer Academy, Mr. Edward Eames. There were already chapters in many leading schools by 1944. Student membership was based on high academic standing, and the first individuals to be inducted at St. Mark’s were all sixth-formers. George Boyer, Anthony Brown, and their fellow inductees Robert Bigelow, Samuel Bush, Bradford Endicott, and William Rand, Jr., who were all inducted in 1944, graduated with distinction. Today, the mission remains as follows: to honor and recognize scholastic achievement in secondary education. Membership is granted to students who have shown to continuously demonstrate academic promise as decided by a vote of faculty who are members of the St. Mark’s Cum Laude Society. The St. Mark’s Cum Laude Society is made of faculty who were members of the Cum Laude Society at their respective secondary schools, members of Phi Beta Kappa at their college or university, or elected by the Cum Laude Committee.
Celebrations at St. Mark’s
Each year St. Mark’s celebrates new Cum Laude Society members. In a typical year, the celebrations commence in the last two weeks of classes in early May with a dinner between faculty on the Cum Laude Committee and Cum Laude students in the Parkman room. Afterward, the festivities continue to the Performing Arts Center for a ceremony attended by the entire school. Most of the students are sixth formers, but there are typically a few 5th formers also.
The ceremony includes the reading of the students’ names, their induction into the Cum Laude Society, a history of the Cum Laude Society, a speech by St. Mark’s Cum Laude Society President, who is Peter Glomset this year, and finally, a longer talk by a selected speaker, typically from outside the school. Last year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the ceremony was done virtually for accepted students, families, and advisors. Currently, St. Mark’s is unsure what the ceremony might look like this year due to the pandemic.
The Importance of the Celebrations and the Society
The Cum Laude Society is significant to St. Mark’s as Mr. Warren has noted, “because it honors one of our most highly prized school value. As stated in our Mission Statement, St. Mark’s wants our students ‘to develop their particular analytic and creative capabilities.’” Mr. Warren also notes how the mission statement states that the school seeks to inspire students’ “academic and spiritual curiosity” and also kindle “their passion for learning. Mr. Warren noted how those who are elected to the Cum Laude Society had shown these characteristics in “an extraordinary way.” He stated that honoring becoming a member of the Cum Laude Society and the effort required for such membership is important. Honoring this achievement is a way to reinforce the school’s firm belief in intellectual engagement and striving for the highest level of academic achievement possible.
Dr. Peter Glomset, St. Mark’s current Cum Laude Society President and English department faculty, expressed his enthusiasm for the ceremony’s recognition of students’ academic excellence and honor. Dr. Glomset said that it is exciting for him as a teacher to see the students he taught being recognized in a school-wide setting. He notes how the Cum Laude ceremony is a day in which the students who have done notably well in various disciplines are honored, and that it is one of the celebratory events that bring a memorable closure to the student’s time at St. Mark’s. It is truly an event that is both momentous and significant to the St. Mark’s community.