In Brief

CELEBRATING UNDERFORMERS' ACHIEVEMENT

Lawrenceville gathered to honor Second, Third, and Fourth Form students at the Underform Prize Ceremony in May. Recipients of the various honors excelled in academics, athletics, the arts, and community service. Below are all underform awards; prizes awarded to graduating Fifth Form students are listed in the Commencement 2022 coverage on page 32.

The Visual Art Department Prize

Rania Shah ’23 Stephanie Xu ’23

The Performing Arts Department Prize

Lily Hooge ’23

The John H. Imbrie Humanities/ English Prize

Sabrina Ottaway ’25

The English Department Prize for General Excellence/Third Form

Ava Hamilton ’24

The English Department Prize for General Excellence/Fourth Form

Rory Murphy ’23

The History Department Prize

Bhushan Mohanraj ’24

The John H. Imbrie Humanities/Cultural Studies Prize

Xizi Yao ’25

The Richard C. Smith Physics Prize

Alexander B. Noviello ’23 Andrew C. Noviello ’23

The Lever F. Stewart Prize

Satvik Dasariraju ’23

Mr. and Mrs. W.R. Niblock Award

Tristan Wan ’23

The John T. O’Neil III Mathematics Team Award

Su-Yeon Lee ’23

Mid-Atlantic Prep League and Lawrenceville Athletics All-Academic Team

Fall

Benjamin Cavanagh ’23 Satvik Dasariraju ’23 Ria Patel ’23 Ashley Wang ’23 Lilly Gessner ’23 Emma Kim ’23 George Northup ’23 Kyle Park ’23 Lindsay Lee ’23 Anushka

Chintamaneni ’23 Christabelle Sutter ’23 Jack Patel ’23 Maddy Laws ’23

Winter

Ely Hahami ’23 Jeb Williams ’23 Ashley Wang ’23 Lindsay Lee ’23 Debanshi Misra ’23 Jack Patel ’23 Maddy Laws ’23 Satvik Dasariraju ’23 Kyle Park ’23 Iris Wu ’23 Liam Dennehy ’23 Lilly Gessner ’23

Spring

Jackson Lee ’23 Charles Rossman ’23 Grant Shueh ’23 Maddy Laws ’23 Christabelle Sutter ’23 Amanda Park ’23 George Northup ’23 Robert Simone ’23 Anna Gill ’23 Rory Murphy ’23 Mia Bocian ’23 Julia Chiang ’23 Jimmy Zhang ’23 Satvik Dasariraju ’23 Kyle Park ’23 Iris Wu ’23

The Lawrence L. Hlavacek Bowl

Jacqueline Courtney ’23 George McCain ’23

The Dwight D. Eisenhower Leadership Award

Hampton Sanders ’23

The Peter W. Dart Prize Kyle Kyungwon Park ’23

The Class of ’95 Journalism Award

Autri Basu ’23

The Beverly Whiting Anderson Prize

Cira Sar ’25 Reed Cloninger ’25

The Marcus D. French Memorial Prize

Elijah Miller ’25 Alexa Lewis ’25

The Smith College Book Award

Maddy Laws ’23

The Brown University Alumni Book Award

Grant Shueh ’23

The Rutgers University Book Award

Kyle Park ’23

Wellesley Club of Central Jersey

Iris Wu ’23

The Williams College Book Award

Satvik Dasariraju ’23

Dartmouth Club of Princeton Award

Alistair Lam ’23

Harvard Club of Boston Prize Book Award

Jack H. Patel ’23

Eglin Society Pins

Bradley Barrett ’23 Andrew Boanoh ’23 Praachi Chakraborty ’23 Anushka

Chintamanen ’23 Peyton Cosover ’23 Jacqueline Paley

Courtney ’23 Michelle Egu ’23 Eric Frankel ’23 Lilly Gessner ’23 Lily Lynn Hooge ’23 Barbara Odae ’23 Caroline Park ’23 Kyle Park ’23 Jack Patel ’23 Grant Shueh ’23 Victor Zhu ’23

The Reuben T. and Charlotte Boykin Carlson Scholarship

Tran Tran ’24

Jeremy K. Mario ’88 Award

Drew Davis ’23 Barbara Odae ’23

The Yale Club Book Award

Yewon Chang ’23 George McCain ’23

The Katherine W. Dresdner Cup

Stephens House

The Foresman Trophy

Cleve House

HIGH HONORS IN NATIONAL CHEMISTRY OLYMPIAD

Tristan Wan ’23 earned high honors on the 2022 National Chemistry Olympiad exam, a multi-tiered competition, sponsored by the American Chemical Society, to stimulate and promote high school chemistry. Thousands of students across the United States take a local exam with only the top performers moving on to the rigorous, 60-question national exam created by both high school and college chemistry teachers.

WELL READ: TAKES TWO SCHOLASTIC NEWSPAPER AWARDS

The 141st editorial board of The Lawrence won two Scholastic Newspaper Awards in June for its work over the past year. The student-led newspaper received First Place with Special Merit and Most Outstanding High School Newspaper honors. These awards are presented by the American Scholastic Press Association.

“The newspaper has served the student body as a medium to voice individual and collective thoughts, start discussion, and as a way to bring people closer together through journalism,” Joshua Cigoianu ’22, editor-in-chief of the 141st Lawrence board, said. “That’s what makes The Lawrence so special.”

English teachers Elizabeth Buckles and Maggie Ray serve as faculty advisers.

The 141st editorial board of The Lawrence celebrates its wins.

THE EXCELS

The Lawrentian received the 2022 CASE Circle of Excellence Silver Award for alumni magazines for independent and international schools in June. The annual worldwide competition, organized by the Council for the Support and Advancement of Education, received more than 4,500 submissions from 28 countries. The magazine also earned two Communicator Awards for Excellence, hosted by the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts (AIVA), in May. The winter 2021 issue was recognized in the corporate communications category and the winter 2021 feature “Last Call, Y’all,” detailing the efforts of Jim Birch ’98 to lead Dixie Brewing’s rebranding transition into Faubourg Brewing Co., was honored for writing.

“Last Call, Y’all” won a Communicators Award for Excellence from the Academy of Interactive and Visual Arts.

BOANOH ELECTED PRESIDENT

Andrew Boanoh ’23 was elected in April by the student body as its president for the 2022-23 school year. During his campaign, he presented initiatives aimed at improving all aspects of Lawrenceville student life – academic, social, and co-curricular.

After communicating with a variety of students and faculty members on the changes they would like to see at the School, Boanoh came up with a platform he felt encapsulated the most important aspects of life at Lawrenceville and highlighted areas that most needed change.

“It’s one thing to get ideas from your own head and put them down,” he said. “I’m not representing me, I’m representing Lawrenceville.”

Boanoh proposed the establishment of an on-campus social center within Tsai Field House. Additionally, rather than just having a singular Hill Day, Boanoh brought up the idea of a Hill Week, which would be entirely dedicated to increasing school spirit and organizing social gatherings. Another strategy to boost school spirit was to have House Olympics in both the fall and the spring.

He also advocated for extending the amount of time in the evening that students have access to Wi-Fi and proposed that College Counseling begin reaching out to Fourth Formers starting in the fall term rather than the winter term.

Former president Annie Katz ’22 passed the torch to Boanoh at the Commencement ceremony in May. – Nichole Jin ’24/The Lawrence

PRIME MINISTER MULRONEY ZOOMS IN

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney invited Lawrentians to ask him “anything at all” during a Zoom meeting with Canadian Studies students this spring. Mulroney, head of the Progressive Conservative Party and who led Canada from 1984-93, fielded questions on a range of topics, including current and past events, relationships with other nations, his thoughts on current conservative politics, and his legacy as Canada’s “greenest” prime minister.

The course, led by History teacher Larry Filippone, examines Canadian history, culture, and current events.

Asked about the guiding principles of Canada’s Progressive Conservative Party under his leadership, Mulroney said the party was “progressive on social issues and conservative on economic issues and trade policy. … I tended to try to find the center.” Mulroney lamented the current “highly polarized” economic and political situation in the U.S. and Canada. “I don’t think it is very healthy, nor as productive, as it could be.”

Students were eager to hear about Mulroney’s role in dismantling South African apartheid and securing Nelson Mandela’s release from prison. After being convinced by African National Congress President Oliver Tambo that Canada could play an important role in ending governmental oppression in South Africa, Mulroney took action.

“I went to the Cabinet and I told them that from now on, the liberation of Nelson Mandela and the destruction of the apartheid system in South Africa was going to be a top priority at all times,” he said.

The day after Mandela’s release, Mulroney received word of a call for him at his residence. “And I said, ‘Oh, hell, that’s not Mandela, that’s friends of mine from my hometown who’re drinking beer in the tavern having a good time. And they’re just having fun.’ [The switchboard operator] said, ‘Well, he sounds an awful lot like the man I heard on television last night.’

“So I went on and had a conversation with Mandela. And he said, ‘Prime Minister, when I heard of you, you were a young conservative prime minister who had just assumed power in Ottawa, and you said that you want my liberation and the destruction of apartheid. So here I am. And I want to tell you that because of Canada’s efforts on my behalf, and the efforts of your government, if you agree, I want to make my first speech as a free man, to a free parliament, in a free country: in Canada.’”

– Lisa M. Gillard H’17

Former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, seen here at the University of Toronto, visited Lawrenceville’s Canadian Studies students this spring via Zoom (Photo Courtesy: Richard Lautens/Toronto Star)

TOP STANFORD BIOLOGIST OBSERVES LAWRENTIAN PROJECTS

HER POETRY IS GOLD

Stanford University’s Dr. Seung Kim, who heads the eponymous Seung Kim Laboratory in the Stanford University School of Medicine’s Department of Developmental Biology, visited Lawrenceville in March. He attended Projects in Molecular Genetics classes, spoke to all Second Formers about his lab’s diabetes research, and met with the Lawrenceville Hutchins Scholars in Science Research. The Hutchins Science program has partnered with Kim’s Stanford Lab on medical research for several years.

Ashley Wang ’23 earned a Gold Medal in April for her work, “Rewind,” in the Poetry category of the 2022 Scholastic Art & Writing Awards, sponsored by the Alliance for Young Artists & Writers. More than 100,000 teens from across the United States and Canada entered more than 260,000 works of art and writing in the 2022 Scholastic Awards. Also in April, Wang placed third in the 2022 Young Writers Competition (poetry division), sponsored by Bennington College. The contest, open to ninth- through twelfth-graders, promotes and recognizes the writing excellence of high school students.

DASARIRAJU THIRD WORLDWIDE AT ISEF

Satvik Dasariraju ’23 won third place in the Computational Biology & Bioinformatics Category of the Regeneron International Science & Engineering Fair (ISEF) in Atlanta in May. His project, “RARE: Machine Learning Approach for Binning Rare Variant Features to Detect Association with Disease,” was among 50 international finalists in that category. More than 7 million participants had entered regional fairs worldwide.

Dasariraju’s project used machine-learning and artificial intelligence to detect rare variant genetic irregularities associated with a wide range of diseases and disorders, including rejection of transplanted organs. His algorithm, which he named RARE (Relevant Association of RareVariant-Bin Evolver), simplifies and improves the analysis, making it more widely available. The work can help inform immunosuppression strategies and better donor-recipient pairing.

Dasariraju earned his way to Atlanta by capturing the Grand Prize at the 2022 Mercer County Science and Engineering Fair in March, where Bhushan Mohanraj ’24 also took a first-place award and Antonia Comaniciu ’25 and

Anushka Chintamaneni ’23

claimed second prizes in their categories.

GIVING VOICE TO REFUGEE CHILDREN

Her experience teaching Syrian and Iraqi children displaced by war moved Summer Qureshi ’22 to compile their harrowing tales into a new book.

With support from a William Welles Award, Summer Qureshi ’22 edited and illustrated a new book, Unsilenced: Voices of Refugee Children, featuring the stories of displaced youth whom Qureshi met through volunteer work.

“I got involved with the GiveLight Foundation before my junior year during COVID,” she said, adding that the pandemic provided her the time to support the communities around her. “GiveLight values meaningful connections with the children and gives every child the chance to explore their interests through art or singing.”

Qureshi joined as an intern, hoping to work directly with the children around the world. She worked with displaced young refugees from Syria and Iraq who were living in Turkey, though pandemic restrictions during her Fourth Form limited her counsel to interactions via Zoom. Nonetheless, Qureshi said they were invaluable.

“Their synergy and passion truly bridged the gap between our physical distances,” she said. “Beyond our storytelling workshops, the kids and I just wanted to interact and bond as people. The point of our storytelling workshops was for the children to speak and feel heard.”

Qureshi began as an English teacher to the children. During her first class, she asked her students to write about themselves so they could know each other better. Though she expected to hear about their favorite sports or games, Qureshi learned much more than she had anticipated.

“Some children at the GiveLight home shared how much they valued family after losing a parent during the war, while others wanted to return to Syria and fight for human rights despite being blinded during the war,” Qureshi said. “They really embodied the resilient spirit of the person I hoped to become, yet people rarely hear their voices. Through our book, we wanted to change the power dynamics of who should be heard.”

Unsilenced: Voices of Refugee Children came to life after Qureshi compiled and edited their firsthand perspectives.

“One of the biggest challenges was capturing the personality of each child through the book’s images and the children’s names,” she explained. “Because the children still had relatives in Syria or Iraq, I could not use the children’s real names or their pictures, so instead I chose a name whose meaning captured their personality and created illustrations for each child that captured his/her dreams and goals.”

Qureshi also applied concepts she took from her experience with the Lawrenceville Merrill Scholars, focused on translation theory and studies to preserve an author’s original words and their connotations. “I kept the children’s original Arabic words alongside their English translations to ensure that the children were truly represented the way they desired” she said. The experience moved Qureshi deeply, and its lessons are transferable to anywhere in the world. “As I wrote at the end of my introduction to the book, ‘We are linked not only by our history, but also by our choice to interact and listen to one another’s experiences. By reading their stories, you are linking part of your identity with these brave, young refugee children,’” she said. “The book is truly just a stepping stone to changing diverse representation, one that can only exist when we give marginalized groups the platform to represent themselves.” The William Welles Award was established in memory of William Bouton Welles ’71, Class of 1971. Third and Fourth Form students submit proposals for summer projects, research, and writing, and the amount of the award depends on the proposal submitted, up to $3,000.

Summer Qureshi ’22 adapted the stories she heard from Syrian and Iraqi child refugees for a book she edited and illustrated. – Adapted from an interview by Lisa M. Gillard H’17