Last week, Cary Academy gathered for the annual Awards Ceremony to honor students who exemplified excellence throughout the 2024-2025 school year.

We honor these individual accomplishments and celebrate the collective spirit of this student body.

Congratulations to all the winners!

NATIONAL MERIT AWARDS (all are class of 2025)

Commended students in the National Merit Scholarship program: Laura Capps, William Chow, Connor Chuang, Chelsea Cui, Eliza Gayer, Derek Han, Alex Haugan, Ben Holton, Corinne Laurey, Annabel Maidorn, Ben Morrissey, Pranav Ravulapati, Sarah Shaughnessy, Neal Wasudev, Ethan Wiemer-Kopf, Bella Xu

Semifinalist for National Merit Scholarship: Brady Echevarria

Finalists for National Merit Scholarships: Annie Boyse, Milena Chiavegatto, Sebastian deSouza, Abigail Fox, Maya Gupta, Grace Housman, Dillan Jagannath, Sebastian Limkakeng, Rebecca Liu, Finn O’Connell, Adam Zheng

National Merit Scholars: Alex Liu, Nayan Patel, Josh Sun, Rachel Wang

College Board’s National African American Recognition Program: Kainda Nzinga

College Board’s National Hispanic Recognition Program: Milena Chiavegatto, Brady Echevarria, Annabel Maidorn, Jacob Sergent, Jack West

MISSION AWARDS

These are awarded to students who have been living into Cary Academy’s mission of discovery, innovation, collaboration, and excellence.

Outstanding Discovery Award: This Award Recognizes a student (or group) who pursues learning as a process motivated by genuine curiosity.

Kenna Zhang, ’26, Annie Boyse, ’25, Kiran Singh, ‘27, Malyn Johnson, ‘27, Bella Chen, ’27

Outstanding Innovation Award: Recognizes a student (or group) who has met the requirements of an assignment or activity in a notably imaginative and innovative fashion:

Jake Alexander, ’25, Hailey Zhang, ’25, Annalise Davies, ’25, Juliette Alvarez, ‘27, Daphne DiFrancesco, ‘26,Nova Leuchtmann, ’25, Camille Monds, ’27, Pranav Ravulapati, ‘25

Outstanding Collaboration Award: This Award recognizes a group of students who have modeled an exemplary collaborative process.

Nayan Patel, ’25, Dax Welborn, ’25, Ethan Weimer-Kopf, ’25, Ben Holton, ’25, Dillan Jagannath, ’25, Ava Khoudary, ’26, Michael Wei, ’28, Alister Devins, ’26, Daniel Chen, ‘26, Tej Oldham, ’27, Brianna Xin, ’26, Sebastian deSouza, ’25, Eliza Gayer, ’25,  Brooke Murgitroyd, ’25, Finn Miller, ’26, Daphne DiFrancesco, ’26

Outstanding Community Award: Recognizes a student (or group) who courageously and selflessly acts in the interest of the community, and who demonstrates respect, integrity and compassion. 

Ike Ugwa, ’25, Chimdi Uchendu, ’25, Ayden Musau, ’25, Bemnet Samson, ’26, Isabella Grossi, ’28

Outstanding Service Award: Recognizes outstanding service to the school or community. 

Eliza Gayer, Gray Arndts, ’25, Anna-Sophia Polge, ’25

JUNIOR BOOK AWARDS (all are class of 2026)

Brandeis University Book Award: Danica McCarron

Brown University Book Award: Daphne DiFrancesco

Dartmouth College Book Award: William Chen

RPI Medal: Brianna Xin

University of Chicago Book Award: Yul Choi

SCHOOL AWARDS (all are class of 2025)

Spector Family Fund Award: Etienne Van Tonder

Johnnetta Camile Overton Scholarship: Zuleika Ekangaki

The Upper School Award: Tim Spivey, Sydney Wrege, Brooke Murgitroyd, Nova Leuchtmann

Head of School Award: Pranav Ravulapati, Callie Chang, Shariah Warren, Kainda Nzinga

Founder’s Award: Annalise Davies