Congratulations, Class of 2025!
Family, friends and faculty celebrate graduating seniors in the Academy’s 244th year
By Sarah Pruitt '95
Photographs by Joanne Lembo, Amanda Sagba and Mary Schwalm
Summer 2025
Sunshine bathed the Exeter campus in June as some 3,000 parents, family members, friends and faculty gathered on the Academy lawn to send off the 313 members of the graduating class of 2025.
Senior Class Marshals Rima Alsheikh, Max Albinson, Mya Scott and Altan Ünver led a spirited procession of their classmates and faculty members across Front Street, which was lined with well-wishers, as a string quartet played.
Ava Helbig, president of the senior class, began the school’s 244th commencement exercises with a warm welcome. “Congratulations, class of 2025,” she said. “It may have been a long road, but we’ve made it.”
Helbig expressed gratitude to all those who had traveled great distances to share in the joyous occasion. She also thanked members of Exeter’s staff, including the facilities and dining teams, who supported senior week and graduation day.
Helbig spoke of the inevitability of change in life, and the human tendency to resist it. In the past weeks, she said, she had been conscious of doing various things for the last time at Exeter. “Why is it that we never treasure what we have until we’ve lost it?” she asked, then urged her fellow seniors to savor each moment.
“There is beauty in every soul on this lawn, in every moment we get to live through,” Helbig said. “If you feel even a little bit brave, you might even join me in loosening the reins you have ensnared time in and — even if only for a moment — letting time pass.”
Following Helbig’s address, Music Instructor Kris Johnson led the seniors in Exeter’s Concert Choir in a beautiful rendition of “The Road Home,” composed by Stephen Paulus.
Principal Bill Rawson ’71; ’65, ’70 (Hon.); P’08 then recognized the retiring faculty members seated onstage: Kitty Fair, who joined the Modern Languages Department 41 years ago, and Dale Braille, who taught in the Science Department for 28 years.
“There is beauty in every soul on this lawn, in every moment we get to live through.”
—Ava Helbig '25, President of the Senior Class
In his farewell to the class of 2025, Rawson congratulated the seniors. “You have seized every opportunity presented to you during your time here, and you have met every challenge,” he said. “Because of what you have learned and how you have grown, you are ready for what lies ahead, in college and beyond.”
Rawson spoke of the Academy’s core value of non sibi, and how the seniors had demonstrated a commitment to this principle in the ways they contributed to the life of the school and supported each other. “You have understood that when we balance our needs with the needs of others — that is when we are our best selves,” he said.
Rawson advised the class of 2025 to “stay humble and always act with kindness toward others” in their lives after Exeter. Such qualities, he said, would “make you more effective advocates for the kind of world you want to live in.” In addition, he said he hoped they would leave Exeter with a deep sense of gratitude, not only to those who had supported them during their time at the Academy, but also to the earlier generations of faculty and Exonians “who have helped create and shape the Exeter of today, and who have thereby made your experiences at Exeter possible.”
“You have understood that when we balance our needs with the needs of others––that is when we are our best selves.”
—Bill Rawson '71, Principal
Living by the values of non sibi, humility, kindness and gratitude, Rawson acknowledged, “will not diminish the challenges of our day, which are considerable and many.” But those values would, he said, enable seniors to better confront challenges in their own lives, help lift people around them and live the purposeful lives for which Exeter had sought to prepare them.
“If you stay true to your principles, your sphere of influence will continue to grow; you will be asked to take on more responsibility,” Rawson said. “You will have opportunities to make a positive difference in the lives of others, in ways you cannot even begin to imagine now.”
In closing, Rawson expressed his affection for the class of 2025, as well as his excitement to see what paths they would follow and to hear the stories they would share with future generations of Exonians.
“You will always be the great class of 2025,” he said. “You will always belong to each other, and you will always belong here.”
“You will have opportunities to make a positive difference in the lives of others, in ways you cannot even begin to imagine now.
—Bill Rawson '71, Principal
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Graduation Prizes
The Yale Cup, awarded each year by the Aurelian Honor Society of Yale University to that member of the senior class who best combines the highest standards of character and leadership with excellence in his studies and in athletics.
Jaylen Bennett, Laurel, Maryland
The Ruth and Paul Sadler ’23 Cup, awarded each year to that member of the senior class who best combines the highest standards of character and leadership with excellence in her studies and in athletics.
Grace Benson, Rumford, Rhode Island
The Perry Cup, established by the class of 1945 in honor of Dr. Lewis Perry, eighth principal of the Academy, and given annually to a senior who has shown outstanding qualities of leadership and school spirit.
Caspar Bailey, South Londonderry, Vermont
The Williams Cup, established in memory of George Lynde Richardson Jr. and given annually to a student who, having been in the Academy four years, has, by personal qualities, brought distinction to Phillips Exeter.
Byran Huang, Princeton, New Jersey
The Eskie Clark Award, given annually to that scholarship student in the graduating class who, through hard work and perseverance, has excelled in both athletics and scholarship in a manner exemplified by Eskie Clark of the class of 1919.
Jannah Maguire, Chicago, Illinois
The Thomas H. Cornell Award, based on a vote by the senior class and awarded annually to that member of the graduating class who best exemplifies the Exeter spirit.
Anna Holtz, Portland, Oregon
The Multicultural Leadership Prize, awarded annually to the member or members of the graduating class who most significantly contributed to educating the community about, and fostering greater understanding around, topics of race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, gender, nationality, sexual orientation, ability, religion, spirituality or other aspects of identity.
Eliana Hall, Atlanta, Georgia
The Cox Medals, given by Oscar S. Cox, in memory of his father, Jacob Cox, are awarded each year to the five members of the graduating class who, having been two or more years in the Academy, have attained the highest scholastic rank. In alphabetical order, this year’s medalists are:
Alexandra Meyer, Pacific Palisades, California
Dhruv Nagarajan, Bridgewater, New Jersey
Jaansi Patel, Edison, New Jersey
Elizabeth Pratt, Far Hills, New Jersey
Shiqiao Zhang, Nanjing, China
The Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence, given to that member or members of the graduating class who, having been two or more years in the Academy, are recognized on the basis of scholarship as holding the first rank.
Alexandra Meyer, Pacific Palisades, California
Dhruv Nagarajan, Bridgewater, New Jersey
Jaansi Patel, Edison, New Jersey
Shiqiao Zhang, Nanjing, China
Forever Exeter
Replacing lost diplomas and yearbooks
After the devastating Southern California wildfires in January, Lisa Liu ’13, regional president of the Exeter Association of Greater Los Angeles, sent letters to alumni in the area to offer emotional support. The responses she received were overwhelming.
“One of the messages I got back mentioned how they watched their house, and all their belongings, burn down through the security camera,” she says. “It felt like any empathy I could offer was trivial compared to the scale of loss.”
Liu grew up near Altadena, and the news hit close to home. “I was talking with my sister about how some of the places we used to go — with people we used to know — are just ... gone now,” she says. “Even though people enter and leave your life, knowing that the setting of those memories is still there, makes them real and permanent. When that’s lost, it feels like you’re grieving something more than a material loss.”
Moved to action, Liu partnered with Exeter’s Alumni Relations Office and the Principal’s Office to organize the reprinting of diplomas and the mailing of replacement yearbooks to alumni who had lost theirs in the fires.
“There are some items that are a lifeline to a certain time and place, and maybe even to a version of yourself that no longer really exists, except in memories,” Liu says. “When they’re gone, maybe you don’t consciously think it, but instinctively and emotionally, you know that you’ll never stumble upon that item while cleaning and be instantly thrown back into a memory.”
For Liu, the project was a way to offer something more than condolences. “Sending yearbooks and diplomas felt like a small, feasible thing that I could respond with … something better than being the millionth person to say, ‘I’m sorry for your loss.’”
As one alumnus shared: “Wow, this means so much, thank you! I was just thinking about my diploma earlier this week. Appreciate you and everyone else helping make this happen for me.”
