Mercersburg Academy has announced the first 11 members of its Class of 2024 to be chosen for induction into the school’s chapter of the Cum Laude Society, which recognizes the highest level of academic achievement within the school.

Mercersburg is one of 382 secondary schools across the country with a Cum Laude Society chapter. The group of students chosen for membership in Cum Laude are:

Minsuh “Ben” Cho ’24 of Seoul, Korea
James “Ivan” Dwyer ’24 of Hagerstown, MD
Selena Feng ’24 of Chambersburg, PA
Nathaniel Gotera ’24 of Chesterfield, VA
Andrew Leibowitz ’24 of Whitehouse Station, NJ
Gabriel McGuire ’24 of Mercersburg, PA
Tri “Bill” Nguyen ’24 of Ho Chi Minh, Vietnam
Anish Shrestha ’24 of Frederick, MD
Maia Somma ’24 of Greenwich, CT
Crystal Yuen ’24 of Lawrence, NJ
Ruohan “Sam” Zhao ’24 of Shenzhen, China

The second group of Cum Laude inductees from the Class of 2024 will be announced during the spring term.

Cum Laude honorees are elected as seniors by faculty and staff members of Mercersburg’s Cum Laude chapter in recognition of excellence in academic work. The Cum Laude Society, which was founded in 1906, is billed as the secondary-school equivalent of Phi Beta Kappa.

Pictured front row, from left: Selena Feng, Nathanial Gotera, Tri “Bill” Nguyen, Ruohan “Sam” Zhao. Second row, from left: Crystal Yuen, Gabriel McGuire, James “Ivan” Dwyer, Minsuh “Ben” Cho, Andrew Leibowitz, and Anish Shrestha. Not pictured: Maia Somma.