In Commencement exercises for the Class of 2012 on Saturday, June 2, The Pennington School graduated 104 seniors, representing four states and four countries outside the United States. Steven K. Tydings of Hopewell and Myung Jin Ko of Seoul, Korea, were valedictorian and salutatorian, respectively. Head of School Stephanie G. Townsend granted the diplomas, and School trustee David Paragamian gave the Commencement address. Paragamian’s daughter Emily is a member of the Class of 2012.
At Commencement, Tydings, as valedictorian, was presented the Head of School’s Award for Scholarship. A National Merit Commended Scholar, Tydings will attend the University of Pennsylvania in the fall.
As salutatorian, Ko was presented the Associate Head of School’s Award for Scholarship. In addition she received awards for excellence in mathematics and vocal performance. Ko also received a signal honor, the Head of School’s Award to the Best All-Around Student, recognizing “that member of the senior class whose distinguished scholarship and dedication to a variety of extracurricular activities has set a memorable example for us all.” Ko will attend Princeton University in the fall.
Stevenson Hawkey of Pennington and Reed Haeckel of Newtown, Pa., shared the Charles G. Bennett ’59 Memorial Award for School Spirit. Savanna Dasgupta of Lawrenceville and Laura McNeill of Newtown, Pa., were recognized as the Seniors Outstanding in Volunteer Service. Carly Deeter of Langhorne, Pa., and Philip Pecora of Princeton won the School Award for Outstanding Citizenship.
Sung Hun Park of Seoul, Korea, won the prize for International Citizenship. For a full list of awards presented to seniors at Commencement, click here.
One faculty prize was announced during Commencement. Mathematics teacher Elizabeth Clancy-Healy was given the Henry and Selma Otte Distinguished Teacher Award. Clancy-Healy, who has been class dean for the Class of 2012 for the past four years, joined the faculty in 2002 after three years at St. Ann’s School in Lawrenceville. A graduate of Lafayette College with a degree in mechanical engineering, she was an engineer with several corporations before turning to education. Clancy-Healy’s daughter, Mary Clancy, is a member of the Pennington Class of 2012.
Commencement speaker Paragamian is president–ApotheCom at Huntsworth Health, a UK-based holding company with a collection of agencies partnering with the pharmaceutical industry. He previously held positions as partner and CEO, Latin America, of Havas Healthcare and as partner and president of Euro RSCG Life network. Before joining Euro, he held positions with inVentiv Communications and Johnson & Johnson-McNeil Consumer Healthcare. He is a graduate of Hamilton College and did graduate work at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.Paragamian and his wife, Judy, live in Yardley, Pa. In addition to Emily, they have a daughter, Melissa, who is completing her sophomore year at Pennington, and a son, Matthew.