Honoring Scholastic Achievement

Each year, St. Mark’s hosts a special ceremony to welcome new inductees into the Cum Laude Society. Modeled after the renowned university honor society Phi Beta Kappa, the Cum Laude Society recognizes students who have demonstrated good character, honor, and integrity in all aspects of their school life. On Wednesday, April 25, 2018, 18 students were inducted into the St. Mark’s chapter of the Society, including seniors Blake Daugherty, Waseem Nabulsi, Jackson Parolisi, Omar Rana, Fausto Reyher, James Rodriguez, Mohit Singhal, and Rohan Vemu, and juniors Shreyas Annaswamy, Creston Brooks, Noah Carr, Parker Davis, Sahit Dendekuri, Ruoming Fan, Mujin Kwun, Connor Pierce, Richard Shen, and David Vallejo.

 

After the new members were inducted, Matt Osborne ’90 addressed the students, faculty, and parents. Mr. Osborne shared lessons from his St. Mark’s education that have served him during a 12-year career as an intelligence officer at the CIA and diplomat at the State Department and in his current role. In 2014, Mr. Osborne left the federal government to join Operation Underground Railroad, a nonprofit made up of former intelligence, law enforcement, and military officers who venture into the darkest corners of the world to rescue exploited and trafficked children. He currently serves as the Senior Vice President of Rescue & Recovery, overseeing international child rescue and rehabilitation efforts. 

 

In his speech, Mr. Osborne credited St. Mark’s with helping develop crucial communications skills that he later utilized in the highest levels of government: “This rigorous training proved to be an enormous asset for me at the CIA, when I had to communicate, in a total of 30 seconds, the most important aspects of that day’s international crises to Presidents George W. Bush or Barack Obama in the White House Situation Room.” 

 

Mr. Osborne closed by challenging the boys to pursue a career they love that also benefits humanity: “In all that you do, think of the motto of the Cum Laude Society: ‘Excellence, Justice, Honor.’ Never forget that you are at a very special place here at St. Mark’s, where you have created, are creating, and will create memories that will last a lifetime.”

 

Since receiving its Cum Laude Society charter in 1959, the St. Mark’s School of Texas chapter has inducted more than 550 men, a legacy commemorated in the Cum Laude stained glass window in the narthex of the St. Mark’s Chapel. 

 

A full-resolution photo of the inductees is available to download on the junior and senior Class Pages.