Wooster School Senior Leadership Positions Announced
Senior leadership positions were announced this morning during a special assembly. The gathering has been a Wooster tradition since its founding years. Summoned by the Chapel bells, students in grades 6 through 12 filled the Forever Young Gymnasium with excitement and anticipation as the junior class gathered in front of the crowd for the announcement of their senior year job assignments.
As a part of Wooster’s Self-help philosophy, students are given complete responsibility for the physical environment of the school. Each day at Wooster, students participate in a “Jobs” period. Every senior is assigned a job area, where they are in charge of managing the younger students as they all work together to clean the campus and maintain order in their building or area.
Christopher Pannone, Director of Divisions, welcomed everyone to the ceremony. “For all of us, today is a chance to reflect on Wooster tradition and our School continuing to move from Strength to Strength. We are all lucky, privileged even, to be members of the Wooster community,” remarked Pannone.
Hannah Reed ‘06, Assistant Director of Student Advancement, spoke briefly, explaining the tradition of this ceremony and the evolution of the role of Senior Prefect. “Intentionally, we will seek Senior Prefects who have complementary skills and dispositions, thus best positioning them to collaborate on this important work. It is rare in the modern world to work in isolation; it is our hope to continue to prepare Wooster students for a team-based approach to leadership."
After Ms. Reed concluded her speech, Head of School Matt Byrnes shared his remarks before announcing the class of 2019’s leadership positions. “But now is when the real work, and the deeper learning, truly start. As you lead and follow next year, you’ll be learning about yourself, learning about other people, learning about work, learning about responsibility, learning about life -- every day, all year. You can only learn more about yourself, and your capacity to lead and follow well if you work at it. Today, I am challenging you to be proactive everyday as a role model -- even in the smallest of ways -- even when you aren’t asked -- even when no one is watching. As with the college experiences that await the Class of 2018, you’ll only get out of it what you put in."
Though each rising senior is given an important leadership position within the community and Wooster’s Self-help system, the prefects take on the most responsibilities as leaders on campus. The Prefects for 2018-2019 will be:
Senior Prefect – Self-Help: Simon Felicione '19 from New Fairfield, CT
Environmental Ambassador Prefect: Catherine Wang ’19 from Shenzhen, Guangdong, China
Equity & Inclusion Prefect: Ingrid Li ’19 from Guangzhou, Guangdong, China
James Marshall Chapel Prefect: Alan Jos ’19 from Danbury, CT
Social Impact Prefect: Matt Eskenazi '19 from Brewster, NY
Student Activities Prefect: Jack Barsh ’19 from Somers, NY
Student Ambassador Prefect: Karelin Dominguez ’19 from Danbury, CT
East Campus Prefect: Tyler Wagnblas ’19 from Ridgefield, CT
Central Campus Prefect: Cooper Byrnes ‘19 from Ridgefield, CT
West Campus Prefect: Mimi Pelton-McCormick ’19 from Mount Kisco, NY
About Wooster School
Wooster School is an independent, co-educational college preparatory day school, serving students from Fairfield and Westchester Counties. Located in Danbury, Connecticut, the School serves students from Kindergarten through grade 12. A leader in classroom innovation and teaching, Wooster School is a place where thinking and learning are personal, meaningful, and visible; and where faculty work closely with students in small classes and cohorts to think and communicate critically and creatively. At Wooster, every student participates, every student contributes, and every student learns and develops the necessary skills to be a life-long learner and leader in college and beyond.
To learn more, visit http://www.woosterschool.org/ or contact Wooster School Admissions at (203) 830-3916.
Photo Caption: Back row: (from left to right) Head of School Matt Byrnes; Simon Felicione, Alan Jos, Ingrid Li, Cooper Byrnes, Tyler Wagnblas, Jack Barsh, Director of Divisions, Christopher Pannone, Front row: (from left to right), Matt Eskenazi, Julia Bauer, Karelin Dominguez, Mimi Pelton-McCormick, Catherine Wang after receiving their positions as Wooster School Prefects.