The Edward J. Fox chapter of the prestigious Cum Laude Society was chartered in 1976, just six years after Charlotte Latin School opened its doors. Each spring, seniors induct classmates from both the senior class and the junior class. The Cum Laude Society, founded in 1906, honors not only academic achievement but the ideals exemplified by the Greek words Areté (excellence), Diké (justice), and Timé (honor). The annual induction ceremony is made more meaningful by the personal tributes to the incoming members: students celebrating the intellect and character of their peers.

This morning, a full Thies Auditorium — packed with faculty, staff, parents, and Upper School students — witnessed the induction ceremony. Fifteen members of the class of 2027 joined the Cum Laude Society: Erik Anglemyer, Henry Anglemyer, Ellen Chapman, Chase Curran, Lillian Dong, Clark Fan, Connor Gannett, Sia Gullapalli, Arshia Jalali, Caroline Jin, Shivani Kaw, Anna Lechner, Deborah Lopes, Margaret Piasecki, and Katia Seeburg.

Also inducted were 15 members of the class of 2026: Max Bai, Ananya Banerjee, Coleman Casey, Jolin Cheng, Samora Elam, Shiv Iyer, Molly Martin, Jacob Nguyen, Riley Phelps, John Puyleart, Wesley Seagraves, Karlin Smith, Caroline Uys, David Vaughn, and Ryan Zhou.

They joined the 15 members of the class of 2026 who were inducted last year and who collectively hosted the induction ceremony: Natalie Berman, Avery Bly, Luca Bravo, Emily Cao, Connor Cruz, Peter DiSciullo, Evelyn Haggstrom, Kabir Nawaz, Jackie Rao, Kelsey Sciacca, Angelina Yang, Isabel Yang, Avery Youse, Claire Zhang, and Lynn Zhao.

(The number of Latin students in the Cum Laude Society varies from year to year but in each class, cannot exceed 20% of the members of the class. Ten percent of each Latin class is inducted as juniors, followed by another ten percent as seniors.)

The assembly concluded with remarks from Mike Weiss, Upper School History Teacher. He shared the story of civil rights icon Barbara Johns, who in 1951, as a 16-year-old sophomore at an African-American high school in segregated Virginia, led the student body on a strike to protest educational inequality. That action became part of the litigation that culminated in 1954 with the Supreme Court’s Brown v. Board of Education decision, Weiss explained. 

“While the outcome she sought, equal educational opportunities, was the goal, it was within the struggle to attain that goal where she really found herself — her identity, her mission,” Weiss said.

He added, “To be clear, when we give out awards, we must take care not to make the award itself seem like the objective, as if school, and life, are like a ladder. Climb the rung, get a reward, climb the next rung, get the next reward, and so on. I believe that eventually leads one into a trap of confusion, disappointment, and even dysfunction.”

He urged all in attendance to celebrate the creative process over its fruits, quoting luminaries from Marie Curie to David Bowie to Kobe Bryant, and lauding the daily process of track athlete Jack Totten ’28. “When you eventually leave school, it’s unlikely anyone will ask you about your high school GPA,” Weiss concluded. “Aim to do things which help and inspire others, and which serve something bigger than yourself. It’s the person you become that matters above all.”