Commencement

Pomfret celebrates the Class of 2023.

To start the ceremony, Angelo “Geno” Rovero gave remarks on behalf of the Class. On the Hilltop, Geno was a superior teammate, a multi-sport captain, the winner of the school spirit superlative, and the animated MC of the Pomfret-Millbrook Day pep rally. So it should have been no surprise to anyone when he compared the four years the Class of 2023 spent at Pomfret to the four quarters of a sports game.

The first quarter, or freshman year, was about the nerves of stepping onto the Hilltop for the first time. The year was interrupted by a rain delay, known as Covid, and led to slippery conditions in the second quarter, sophomore year. During the third quarter, junior year, the Class put their heads down and fought to try and get themselves back in the game. By the final quarter, senior year, it was crunch time, and the Class pulled together to make the last nine months count. “We really figured it out in the fourth quarter. In this hypothetical game, we came back and won,” he said.

With most of the academic awards announced at the Senior Awards Dinner the previous evening, Head of School Tim Richards bestowed select Commencement Awards during the ceremony. Miles Burrello was named Second in Class, and Sungwoo “Aiden” Choi earned First in Class honors. The Wendell D. Mansfield Cup, awarded each year to a sixth-form student who, by vote of the faculty, best exemplifies in school life the qualities of desire, drive, and determination, was awarded to Linda Done. Maya Bullied received the School’s highest honor — The Founder’s Medal — for her scholarship, character, leadership, and determination.

*Linda Done received The Wendell D. Mansfield Cup from Head of School Tim Richards.*

Frances Lumpkin-Webster ’91, CEO of the advertising agency Walrus, which she co-founded with her husband Deacon Webster ’91, was the Commencement Speaker. She discussed a The Economist ad that read — “Would you want to sit next to you at dinner?” Lumpkin-Webster shared her short list — writer and her Pomfret commencement speaker George Plimpton, United States Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines, and Apple’s former CEO Steve Jobs. She reminded the Class, “You can do anything you put your mind to. Push yourself. Don’t be afraid to fail. If it scares you a little and gives you butterflies in your stomach, you are on the right track. Become someone you’d love to sit next to at dinner.”

*Frances Lumpkin-Webster ’91 delivered the Commencement Address.*

Members of the Class of 2023 then received their Pomfret School diplomas — which they had worked so hard to earn. Each was called to the stage and had their moment in the spotlight before letting out one final cheer to celebrate their accomplishment of becoming the newest members of the Pomfret School alumni community.

See more pictures from Commencement.