June 7, 2002 – Antilles School graduated its largest class ever Friday evening, 42 students, each one headed for college studies in the fall.
It was a joyful evening with somber moments, as those gathered remembered longtime headmaster Mark C. Marin, who died unexpectedly in July, and bade farewell for the second time to Kaye Knoepfel, interim headmistress for this school year.
Knoepfel taught at the school and headed the upper and middle schools for 21 years, then retired a year ago. She returned to head the school for one year as the search for a permanent successor to Marin got under way. That search lead to the announcement in April that Arthur Scott, most recently headmaster at a Native American preparatory school in New Mexico, will assume the post this summer.
The senior class traditionally chooses its own commencement speaker. The choice this year was Peter Gruber, president of Globalvest Management Co., whose Peter Gruber Foundation gives five scholarship awards at the school each year.
Also speaking were Nico Phillips, class valedictorian; Elenoe Crew Smith, salutatorian; and Jimmy Marshall, class president. Nico, a National Achievement Scholarship winner and member of the National Honor Society, will attend the University of Pennsylvania next year.
Crew, a member of the National Honor Society, varsity basketball team and award-winning Moot Court team, received a National Achievement Scholarship and was a National Merit finalist. She will be going to Princeton University in the fall.
Marshall, a member of the varsity football, basketball and baseball teams, will attend Villanova University.
Crew received the Honor Plaque Award, the highest award given to a senior, and Elizabeth Davis received the Headmaster's Club Award, the second-highest senior award.
Elliot "Mac" Davis, Antilles board president, presented the diplomas to the graduates, including his daughter Elizabeth. It was a special moment for both, harking back to memories of 1999, when he handed son Joe his diploma in the same setting. Elizabeth will join her brother this fall at Brown University.
Also recognized was Beth Marshall, head of the Antilles Early Learning Center for 25 years, who is retiring. Marshall, the mother of Jimmy, was surprised with a plaque from the board of trustees hand made by art teacher Karen Bertrand.
The Class of 2002 had two commencement songs that students had written. They couldn't decide on one, according to Joan Amerling, Antilles development director, "so they gave us two" — one performed by Crew Smith and Jenelle Rogers, and the other by Zachary Beechler, who accompanied himself on guitar. Both had sentimental lyrics that "described how they feel about education and about the school," Amerling said
The ceremony was held in the school courtyard under balmy skies.
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