Cate School’s 2016 Cum Laude Society inductees. Back row: Jacob Dexter-Meldrum, Ryan Cain, Jonathan Kim, Brandon Sugarman, Jaime Yrastorza, Michael Nettesheim and Gabi Limón. Front row William Bai, Sam Hill, ​Eunbie Coe, Julia Gan, Emma Liberman, Cecelia Sanborn, Alondra Torres-Navarro, Minty Pham and Jessica Liou. (Cate School photo)

On the evening of May 16, 2016, sixteen seniors were inducted into the Cate School chapter of the National Cum Laude Society. The society, founded in 1906, is dedicated to honoring scholastic achievement in secondary schools.






Modeled after Phi Beta Kappa, Cum Laude has grown to nearly 400 chapters, primarily in the United States. Students are selected for induction based on the quality of their academic work and for demonstrating good character, honor and integrity in all aspects of school life. 

Director of Studies Lisa Holmes led the ceremony. She told members of the Cate community who had gathered in the Katharine Thayer Cate Memorial Chapel that the group of selected students includes artists, gifted performers, mathematicians, scientists, writers, historians and athletes.

“While each one of these young scholars has a favorite discipline or an area of strength, each has also excelled across disciplines and worked to become better readers, writers, creators and problem solvers,” she said. “In a community that values a life of the mind, they have shown us how rich that life can be, and in two, three and four years at Cate they have taken full advantage of their gifts.”

Dr. Roberta Rudnick, professor of earth sciences at the UC Santa Barbara, gave the Cum Laude address this year.

Rudnick, who studies the formation of continents, described her professional and scholarly path, which she called “a random walk” and noted that it has been “wonderful and joyous.”

Rudnick was a first generation college student at Portland State University, and she credits her teachers, professors and an early grant from the National Science Foundation with giving her the confidence to pursue her love of earth sciences.

She asked the assembled students to “go out of your way to thank teachers who have made a difference,” and urged them, among other things, to find joy in their studies and life’s work

The following seniors were honored with Cum Laude distinction during the May12 ceremony:

» William Bai, Shanghai, China

» Ryan Cain, Huntington Beach, Calif.

» Eunbie Coe, Tujunga, Calif.

» Jacob Dexter-Meldrum, Santa Barbara

» Julia Gan, Port Jefferson, N.Y.

» Sam Hill, Santa Barbara

» Jonathan Kim, Los Angeles

» Emma Liberman, Woodland Hills, Calif.

» Gabi Limón, Carpinteria

​» Jessica Liou, Saratoga, Calif.

» Michael Nettesheim, Ventura

» Minty Pham, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

» Cecelia Sanborn, Summit, N.J.

» Brandon Sugarman, Santa Barbara

» Alondra Torres-Navarro, Los Angeles

» Jaime Yrastorza, Lincoln, Neb.

Founded in 1910, Cate School is a 9-12 co-educational day and boarding school located in Carpinteria.

— Sarah Kidwell is the director of marketing and communications at Cate School.