Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy
Phillips Exeter Academy

'You have met

'You have met

every challenge'

Spring sunshine bathed the Academy Lawn as Exeter parents, family members, friends and faculty gathered to send off members of the graduating class of 2025.

After Principal Bill Rawson ’71; P’08 opened the graduation ceremony, Ava Helbig, president of the senior class, expressed gratitude to family members of the graduates who had traveled to campus. She also thanked members of Exeter’s staff, including the facilities and dining teams, who supported senior week and graduation.

“To the class of 2025, congratulations,” Helbig told her classmates. “It may have been a long road, but we’ve made it.” She “expressed gratitude to family members of the graduates who had traveled to campus or were watching the ceremony online.”

In her address, 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 knowing that it would be her last time doing them 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, [and] 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.”

After Helbig’s address, Principal Rawson recognized the two retiring faculty members seated on stage: Kitty Fair, who joined the Modern Languages Department 41 years ago, and Dale Braille, who taught in the Science Department for 28 years.

Principal’s remarks

In his farewell to the class of 2025, Principal 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 how they contributed to the life of the school, as well in how they 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.”

Living by the values of non sibi, humility, kindness and gratitude, Rawson admitted, “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 Exeter had sought to prepare them for.

“If you stay true to your principles, your sphere of influence will continue to grow, [and] 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 in life they would follow and hear the stories they would share with future generations of Exonians.

“You will always be the great class of 2025,” the principal said. “You will always belong to each other, and you will always belong here.”

Honors and Special Awards

After Helbig’s welcome to families, Dean of Faculty Eimer Page P’22 and President of the Trustees Kristyn MacLeod Van Ostern ’96 presented this year’s endowed college scholarships, as well as the commencement awards and prizes. In what is believed to be a first, four students were awarded the Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence. The award is bestowed on the student of highest rank. The prize committee examined ways to make distinctions in the students’ course of study and found no clear separation between them.

The Faculty Prize for Academic Excellence: Alexandra Meyer, Dhruv Nagarajan, Jaansi Patel, Shiqiao Zhang

The Cox Medals: Alexandra Meyer, Dhruv Nagarajan, Jaansi Patel, Elizabeth Pratt, Shiqiao Zhang

The Yale Cup: Jaylen Bennett

The Ruth and Paul Sadler ’23 Cup: Grace Benson

The Perry Cup: Caspar Bailey

The Williams Cup: Byran Huang

The Eskie Clark Award: Jannah Maguire

The Thomas H. Cornell Award: Anna Holtz

The Multicultural Leadership Prize: Eliana Hall

Graduation program

A string quartet consisting of seniors Lucy Previn, Ethan Ding and Davido Zhang, as well as Evan Fang ’26, played during the prelude and processional that began the graduation exercises.

Before Rawson’s remarks, seniors in Exeter’s Concert Choir performed “The Road Home,” composed by Stephen Paulus. Led by Music Instructor Kris Johnson, the choral group included Samaria Benochi, Amelia Berger, Bryan Chen, Elizabeth Christiansen, Aymeric Dauge-Roth, Preeti Jain, Lucy Jung, Roy Liu, Max Mantel, Jordan McConnell, Emma Sordi, Benjamin Soriano, Paco Sze, Hemani Stallard and Kamara Williams.

Seniors Phin Gibbs, Lucy Jung, Roy Liu and Nettie Rattray helped Rawson hand out diplomas to the graduating seniors, while Class Marshals Rima Alsheikh, Max Albinson, Mya Scott and Altan Ünver escorted their fellow members of the Class of 2025 to their seats before the ceremony.

Read Principal Rawson’s full graduation remarks here.

Scenes from graduation 2025