The Cum Laude Society: The School’s Highest Academic Honors

I am exceptionally proud that our school is a member of the national Cum Laude Society. Started in 1906 as a high school version of Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude has 382 member schools, each of which honors the top 10% of students in exceptional standing in their junior year and 10% of students achieving at the highest level in senior year for a total of 20% of a graduating class. To be in the top 20% of your class at Fort Worth Country Day is a remarkable achievement. 

Awards can be a mixed bag, though: Do the non-recipients get enough sense from us as their teachers, coaches and parents of their strengths even if they do not rise to the level of Cum Laude? Are the remaining 80% somehow being told they are “not worthy”? We don’t have an Honor Roll. We don’t rank our students in their graduating class, except for our Salutatorian and Valedictorian: Why would we celebrate what, in many ways, relies on “ranking”? And then there are plenty of questions about our non-Cum Laude awards handed out every May: Why have them? Why not let the grades and our narrative comments serve as “recognition,” the quiet, narrow, only-in-the-family kind of recognition? How many overall awards should we have to assure those that we have come with deep meaning? Are our awards accessible to all of our kids? Do they serve a larger, better purpose?  
I see value in awards as recognition of exceptional work and even as a motivator for best work for some. Cum Laude itself serves a very distinct purpose. Much like choosing to be a part of our Southwest Preparatory Conference (SPC) to be competing and associated with high-caliber academic and athletic independent schools in our region, and much like being a significant contributor to and participant in the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest (ISAS) Arts Festival so that our students are showcased alongside the highest level performers and artists in our even larger region, Cum Laude puts us in a group of the highest academic institutions, private and public, in the country. We belong in that company, and our highest achieving students deserve to be wearing the “tau” of the organization. Join me in being proud not only of this year’s inductees to Cum Laude, but also of our school’s longstanding status as members of that illustrious organization.