2024 Upper School Awards Ceremony

St. Luke’s Upper School students were recognized for outstanding academic, service, leadership, art, athletic, and character-driven accomplishments at the 2023 Upper School Awards Ceremony on Thursday, May 2. Students, families, faculty, and staff filled the Seldin Performing Arts Center while others joined via livestream to celebrate. (Watch the livestream recording here.)

 

Head of Upper School Billy Bludgus opened the evening by sharing his thanks and gratitude for the teachers, advisors, and class deans. “Day in and day out, you model the best of St. Luke’s for our students,” he said.“You encourage our students to take risks and help them learn from their disappointments. You encourage your advisees to be involved in the community, connecting them with a new sport, a club, or a service project. You write encouraging APRs and keep a student back after advisory for a moment when they might need to check in. You make your students and advisees laugh, and even more importantly, you show them that they are known and loved.”

 

Class Deans Carrie Meatto and Dave Burnham, Assistant Head of Upper School Abby Abbott, Bludgus, and Head of School Mary Halpin Carter presented the awards. 

 

As part of the ceremony, Dr. Carter announced the Class of 2024 salutatorian, Kelly Neuner, and valedictorian, Megan Case. She highlighted that Huett Nelson would deliver the commencement gratitude address, and Patrick Regan would introduce the board chair. These students have not only excelled academically but have also demonstrated exceptional leadership and character, making them worthy of these prestigious titles. 

 

“While most people associate the salutatorian with high grades, there is much more to the honor than that. It is one’s behaviors and habits of mind that can make all the difference,” Carter said. “One of Kelly’s teachers shared, ‘Simply put, Kelly is the complete package as far as students go. She consistently does all the little things right along the way and thereby lets the major accomplishments just fall into place. She has a robust capacity for rigor, a tireless work ethic, and a joyful academic attitude, which have served as a model for all of us.’”

 

She shared that “while Megan’s dedication to environmental sustainability is on public display, the extent of her scholarship may be a well-kept secret.” 

 

“To understand Megan as a student, just listen to what one of her teachers said about her,” Carter said.“‘Again and again, across the year, Megan showed herself to be a nimble and discerning thinker, a fearless and voracious reader, and produced work that was increasingly ambitious in its sophistication and polished in its execution. Much of Megan’s success is owed to her mature, planful approach, which is to always begin assignments well before deadlines so that she can immerse herself fully in the process and afford herself the intellectual breathing room necessary to offer an original, carefully considered argument or perspective. Megan elevates the level of rigor in each and every one of her classes and does so with palpable warmth and humility.’”

 

Congratulations to this year’s award recipients! See the list of students here.