“Today, there is some particular symmetry as we have 112 graduates who are being celebrated at the school’s 112th Commencement,” Head of School Melissa Soderberg stated in her welcome to Columbus Academy’s graduation ceremony on June 2. “In addition, today marks the end of Columbus Academy’s 57th year on this 231-acre campus, matching the 57 years the school was on the Nelson Road campus.”

Melissa noted that she began writing a letter to our Class of 2025 on the seniors’ last day of classes when they were playing wiffleball and enjoying other activities in the quad. “Our Academy culture is visceral, tactile and loud in celebration, and your playfulness just outside my windows forces me to stop acting like this is just any old day filled with typically administrative things and begin to observe your patterns of saying goodbye.”

She went on to praise how respected the seniors are by the entire school community. “You are a class many of us will miss greatly. You know how to get along. You respect each other. You assert who you are without making others not be themselves. You all lead in your own way, and you have led the school in so many ways that we wonder how it will be next year without you.”

Melanie Qin ’25, president of the senior class, also provided a welcome to the ceremony on behalf of the graduates. She shared that her father constantly reminds her to “look up” and how those two words apply to many of their experiences at Academy “because in all these years, we haven’t just been looking down at the ground preoccupied with the safest next best step. We’ve been taught to see the bigger picture, to go out of our comfort zones and how to pull ourselves back up if we do happen to trip, stumble or fall.”

As this year’s recipient of the Andrew William Carey Cup, Joey Gurwin ’25 was chosen by classmates and faculty to deliver the 2025 Valedictory Address.

“We are a class of champions, of artists, distinguished speakers, nonprofit founders, tall people, people who drive way too fast and much more,” Joey stated during his time on the podium. “However, our greatest identity is found in our unity, in the way we show up for each other… We show up with each other and for each other.”

“Graduates, today is a day that matters,” guest speaker Sandy Doyle-Ahern P’20 ’22 told the Class of 2025. “You stand at the edge of something vast… unpredictable, yes, but also full of promise. Some of you will stay close, others will journey far. Wherever you go, carry this truth with you: you earned this moment, you are ready, and behind you stands a Columbus Academy community that believes in you.”

Sandy – the president of EMH&T, Central Ohio’s leading housing, economic development and public infrastructure design firm – also shared the importance of choosing gratitude and lessons she learned from her father.

“Our value is not defined by job titles or prestige,” she said. “It’s defined by our resilience, our willingness to stand up after we’ve been knocked down, our ability to face the unknown with courage and dignity, and how we treat others in the process.”

The outdoor ceremony held on the Academy quad concluded with the upper school Camerata and Treble Choir singing “We Are One” and a performance of the Alma Mater by the school’s choirs, band and orchestra.

Faculty and staff then recessed to the playing of bagpipes followed by the new graduates, who gathered in the Lazarus Courtyard to celebrate with their families and friends in attendance.

COLUMBUS ACADEMY CLASS OF 2025

Sayida Ridah-Zainab Abbas*

Caroline Altier*

Alisha Peng Arora+

Sarthak Arya

Tamanna Arya

Lillian Hazel Bailey

Ethan Kalp Baker

Lydia Rose Baker

Angela Bdoyan

Adrianna Anna Belousov*

Phinneaus James Boninsegna-Mullins+

Alek O’Reilly Todd Boyd*

Jacob Carl Brentlinger

Mircea Butnariu+

Kaitlyn Renee Cartwright

Bradyn Elise Cassandra

Josiah Nathaniel Chattman

Isaac Michael Clay

Amelia Willow Connick*

Anderson Edward Davis

Nicholas Evan Dunaway Jr.

Craig William Edson*

Grace Ann Enye Edwards

Isabelle Omosede Eribo

Theo Falkenhain*

Ella Davis Farrell

Braeden Fauble

Molly Gail FitzPatrick*

Patrick Lloyd Flythe Jr.

Harmon Killian Gouhin*

Joseph Bertram Gurwin+*

Zair Hashmy*

Kallyn Amritha Hennessy*

Grace Ann-Louise Holbrook*

Jake Daniel Holfinger

Darrin Vanoy Stanfield Holliman Jr.

Alexander Cody Ji-cheng Hu-Van Reeth

Owen Wander Huddleston*

Gavin Willard Hunter

Ryan William Hurst*

Christian David Infantino

Lucy Helena Juzefa Izokaitis*

Marcus Norvelle Jackson*

Kathryn Ann Jauchius

Graham David Johnson+

Olivia Kallas

Carson Elizabeth Kass*

Jacob Alexander Khvalsky*

Marie-Antonina River Kim

Bennett Dae-Myung Ko*

Margaret Elizabeth Kurtz+

Christina Eileen L’Hommedieu+*

Liendsey Ngoc Le

Jennifer A. Lee+*

Seth Daniel Lee*

Nathan Oliver Lefkowitz-Pizzuti*

Sydney Nikaelyn Gill Lesh

Olivia Margarita Lewis+*

Andy Dang Li+

Sophia Rose Lichten+*

Morgan Grace Liebtag

Alina Liu

Harry Yuncheng Liu+

Theodore Chengning Liu

Rowen Lo

Audrey S. Lu+

Liliana Marie Lundberg

Noah Ethan Matros*

Michael Alexander May*

Levi Mendelson*

Carolina Layne Mize+

Connor Thomas Monfort*

Gavin Foster Munster*

Skyler Penelope Myers

Arnav Nawani+

Amelia Noelle Nester*

Andrew Shedden Neviaser Jr.

Ayden Michael Nguyen

Mary Grace Panley+*

Sophie Grace Platt*

Raymond Michael Platte

Melanie Li Qin+

Dante Ehsan Rajaie*

Kouros Antonio Rajaie*

Priya Rangi*

Maneesh G. Rayani

Aliya Rose Saksaka*

Sunil Francis Santry

Jacob Mack Schlonsky*

Haiden Lane Schoenberger

Jackson Seymore*

Andrew H. Silver*

Hannah Rose Simpson*

Marshall Cole Spalding*

Abigail Grace Spolter*

Emma Suzanne Stark+

George Alexander Stein*

Clara Bennett Stevens+*

Ethan Charles Thompson+

Elina Nadine Tiwari

Matthew D. Tolliver

Tenzin Dawa Tsering

Abraham Charles Ulbrich*

Elle Madison Vahedian

Katherine Margarita VanDyne*

James FitzGerald Vaughan

Elliott Jian-Zhong Wang

Alester Yuchen Temur Xiao+*

Hansheng Xu+

Lucas Xue+

Kathryn Ann Zaki*

Caroline Ella Zeiger*

+ Cum Laude Society inductees are selected on the basis of scholarship and character
* Lifers are graduates who have been continuously enrolled since the first grade

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