GILL — During the 134th commencement at Northfield Mount Hermon School, alumnus and commencement speaker Frank Shorter told stories of his time at the school, which ignited his passion for running and academics.
Shorter went on to attend Yale and win the gold medal in the marathon at the Berlin Olympics. Shorter discussed his time at the school, and what has and has not changed since he graduated in 1965.
“Another of the threads that runs through here, for me over the past 50 years, is that love of learning, and learning for learning’s sake, it’s still here,” Shorter said. “It’s absolutely still here.”
Shorter spoke about the mentors he found at the school, who allowed him to explore his passion for running, which he used as an outlet from a turbulent home.
The school’s commencement was Sunday morning on Thorndike Field on the co-educational boarding school’s campus between Gill and Northfield.
The ceremony also included remarks by Abigail Mihaly of the Class of 2017, who spoke on how Northfield Mount Hermon School became her home over the past four years.
Head of the School Peter Fayroian awarded diplomas to the 188 students.
These 34 local students were among the Class of 2017 who graduated from Northfield Mount Hermon School in Gill.
The list includes their hometown and awards they received.
Simon Rodriguez Basescu, Putney, Vt.; Sophie Rodriguez Basescu, Putney, Vt.; Chlöe Juniper Castro-Santos, Gill; Eve Marguerite Charest, Greenfield; Eric Connor Charlton-Edwards, Deerfield; Ross Kellom Damon, Northfield (NMH Student Alumni Association Award); Isabella Rose Maloney DeHerdt, Ashfield (Head of School’s Award, Florence Chapman Haslun Prize); Rylie Galles Hager-Stone, Mount Hermon; Lila Ayman Jacobs, Keene, N.H.; Martha McLerie Kenyon, Mount Hermon (Elizabeth Leyden ’22 Music Award); Junmo Kim, Greenfield; Alexa Grey Licata, Northfield; Patrick Renaud Lierle, Putney, Vt. (Joseph T. Elliott Jr. Prize in Music); Emma Rose Lindale, Northfield (The C. Russell Bragg Memorial Prize in Environmental Studies, The McBurney Work Hour Prize, The Piscuskas Day Student Prize); Isabelle Frances Magbie, Brattleboro, Vt.; Patterson James Malcolm, Mount Hermon (Cum Laude, The Elliott Computing Prize, The Ralph E. Jillson Award); Sophie Sidney Margola, Gill; Julia Catherine McClellan, Mount Hermon (Salutatorian, Cum Laude, The Cambridge Award, The Alice B. and John E. Baldwin Award, The Florence Flagg Biological Science Award); Wahab Shahbaz Minhas, Greenfield (The Frank and Alice Chutter Memorial Award); Eli Ryan Nicolson, Northfield (Cum Laude); Matthew Geoffrey Olsen, West Whately (The Joseph Allen Art Prize); Eve Colette Pomazi, Brattleboro, Vt. (Cum Laude, The Proctor Publications Prize); Dominick Reed Poulsen, Gill; Dorian Thomas Pousont, Greenfield (Cum Laude, The David Michael Walker Prize in Music); Nevada Irene Powers, Brattleboro, Vt.; Henry David Reeder, Mount Hermon; Anthony Joseph Robie, Greenfield; Kate Elizabeth Sprankle, Gill; James Adam Thayer, South Deerfield; Diego Fidencio Torres, Brattleboro Vt. (cum Laude, The John O. Mehrkens Award); Theadora Fae Webb, Turners Falls (The Marie Hood Award); Trowbridge Jensen Weed, Putney, Vt. (cum Laude).