Honors Assembly Recognizes Student Achievements

On February 25, the Xavier High School community gathered to celebrate student academic and co-curricular achievements and recognize the crucial values of hard work and dedication.

Notable honors celebrated at the ceremony included the outstanding achievements of the Class of 2016, the members of which have earned over $11 million in college scholarships to date. Sixty-six percent of the class earned acceptances to colleges under Early Action, Early Decision, or rolling admissions, and of the 170 students accepted, 108 earned admission to a Jesuit college or university (Boston College, Canisius College, Creighton, Fairfield, Fordham, Georgetown, Le Moyne, all four Loyola Universities, Marquette, St. Joseph’s, St. Louis, St. Peter’s, Santa Clara, Scranton and Wheeling Jesuit University). Other notable schools on this list include the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy, the U.S. Military Academy, the U.S. Naval Academy, Colgate, Duke, Georgia Tech, and the Universities of Michigan, Northeastern, Notre Dame, NYU, Purdue, Tulane, and Villanova.

Special recognition went to National Merit Scholar Edward Bateh ’16, and Posse Foundation Scholars Harley Guachichulca ’16, who earned a full-tuition scholarship to attend Vanderbilt University, and Kalunda Anthony ‘16, who earned a full scholarship to Brandeis University.

Major achievements outside the classroom were also noted, including the success of the speech and debate team. Under the direction of Mr. Ed Walsh, Xavier boasted four finalists at a national tournament for the first time in school history.

The following students were recognized for their acceptance to one of the U.S. service academies: Paul Gargiulo '16 to the United States Merchant Marine Academy, Clayton (Bo) Kendrick-Holmes '16 to the U.S. Naval Academy, and Andrew Rivera '16 to the United States Military Academy.

Congratulations to all of the award winners.