Lee Academy Honors It's Strongest Students
Kevin Ritchie
Academic Dean
Our second annual Academic Awards Banquet was held on Sunday, May 22nd in Mallett Gymnasium, with 120 invited guests attending. The program included comments from Headmaster Lindberg and Dr. Ken Smith, Superintendent of Millinocket Schools. As guest speaker, Dr. Smith shared memories from his days as a science teacher and coach at Lee Academy in the 1960's, as well as thoughts about facing challenges, setting goals, and achieving them. His talk was preceded by an excellent buffet prepared by Chef Russ Brown and some of his staff— Lindsay Kerwin, Krystal Schultz and Myra Beach— for the students, parents, faculty, administrators, and other guests in attendance.
After the dinner and comments from Dr. Smith, twenty-nine students were honored for their academic learning and achievement this year. The process toward this recognition begins with recommendations from teachers, some of whom labor over the request for them to each nominate only 3 students! These initial recommendations are compiled and the following criteria are used to select the final award winners:
- Recommendation of one or more teachers
- Cumulative Grade Point Average
- Strength of this year's schedule (i.e. regular vs. honors vs. Advanced Placement courses)
- Depth of overall schedule (i.e. students from upper grades, who have more academic experience, are more likely to be represented here than students from lower grades)
- Level of achievement on the SAT, ACT, PSAT and other standardized, academic tests
- Number of Advanced Placement courses taken, and level of successful completion, as measured by AP test scores
- Completion of college level course work
The actual awards segment of the evening involves having students come forward in small groups, when the many good comments about each student's learning are then read aloud to applause and accolades as Mr. Lindberg places the award medal on each student—in the style of the Olympic Awards ceremony!
The foundations of this event are the academic achievement of students and the insightful observations that teachers have about the learning of their kids. Because of the comprehensive selection process and the distinct focus on academic achievement alone, this is the highest academic honor a student can attain, in any given year, at Lee Academy.
The award winners:
Aubrie Kasserman – Bella Vista, Arkansas
Brandon Bourgoin – Lee, Maine
Noah Albino – Lee, Maine
Robert Hickey – Springfield, Maine
Pei Wen (Jenny) Xiang - Guangzhou, China
Rodney Banks – Lee, Maine
Dmitri Mihaliov - Lee, Maine
Michael Richardson - Lee, Maine
Jakub Hofman - Praha 8, Czech Republic
Marina Mann - Lee, Maine
Chastity Beach – Lambert Lake, Maine
Shuyi (Suzy) Chen - Nanjing, China
Mengyue (Nebula) Bi - Shanghai, China
Logan Dubay - Lee, Maine
Minjie Mo - Xiuzhan, China
Yuxing (Jacky) Song - Guangzhou, China
Xing (Xerxes) Yan – Shanghai, China
Seung (Song) Hyun Song - Seongnam, Korea
Laufton Longo – Springfield, Maine
Alexandra Banks – Lee, Maine
Emilee Parker – Lee, Maine
Samuel Brown - Lee, Maine
Chen-Wei (Jason) Chiu – Taipei, Taiwan
Emma Richford - Springfield, Maine
Josiah Thurlow – Winn, Maine
Ashley Dill – Prentiss Township, Maine
Blaine Guido – Lee, Maine
Rachael Kerr – Lakeville, Maine
Luigi Pacelli - Prentiss Township, Maine