Marmion Academy graduates awarded over $19 million in scholarships
On May 20, Marmion Academy in Aurora graduated the 132 members of the Class of 2016.
Class valedictorians Jack Diederich and Harrison Kearby, both of Aurora, salutatorian Matthew Talarico of Geneva, and Abbot John Brahill OSB, Class of 1967, president of Marmion Academy, addressed the graduates.
Joe Large, Class of 1997, director of student academic services, announced 77 percent of the graduates were awarded scholarships and grants totaling $19.2 million. Ninety-nine percent of the class have been accepted by a college or university and will attend 68 different universities in 31 states this fall. Two graduates will enter directly into the military: Bradley Phalen of Montgomery has enlisted in the U.S. Marines and James Powers of Leland has enlisted in the U.S. Navy.
Academic excellence awards were presented to: Michael Joy of Geneva (four years of Spanish), Harrison Kearby (four years of Italian), Lucas McDonald of Batavia (four years of mathematics, four years of science), Brian Miller of Geneva (four years of French), Albert Rechenmacher of Batavia (four years of theology, four years of Latin, three years of social studies), Christian Surtz of Batavia (four years of English) and Matthew Woodcock of St. Charles (four years of Italian).
Samuel Kluber of Batavia and Lucas McDonald received the John Philip Sousa Band Award. Benjamin Rydecki of Somonauk and Harrison Kearby received the Louis Armstrong Jazz Award.
The four years of Scholastic Excellence Award (earned by those with a cumulative GPA of 4.5 or higher on a 5.0 scale) was awarded to Jack Diederich, Matthew Fletcher of Aurora, Harrison Kearby, Lucas McDonald, Benjamin Michel of Sycamore, Albert Rechenmacher, Michael Seraphin of St. Charles, Matthew Talarico and Nathan Traxler of St. Charles.
The Marmion Loyalty Medals were awarded to John King of Geneva and Jonathan Young of Batavia.
At the ceremony, Anthony Tinerella, Class of 1984, head of school and principal, named the recipients of the Head of School Leadership Medal, honoring those seniors who have demonstrated uncommon leadership talent throughout their four years at Marmion achieving a cumulative leadership rank among the top 10 percent of their class. Those awarded were Andrew Burroughs of Elburn, Matthew Fletcher, Joseph Fremgen of Batavia, Baylor Johnson of Yorkville, Harrison Kearby, Jake Miller of West Chicago, Valen Piotrowski of Aurora, Anthony Preziosio of Batavia, Albert Rechenmacher, Benjamin Rydecki, Jack Saloga of Sugar Grove, Christian Surtz and Matthew Talarico.
Marmion Academy's Class of 2016 includes: Austin Auchstetter, Taylor Austin, Christopher Baker, Elijah Baltazar, Kyle Bernat, John Bird, Austin Black, Anthony Bliss, Grant Bode, Cole Bonebrake, Joel Bottarini, Kyle Bronski, Isaiah Brown, Andrew Burroughs, John Callahan Jr., Michael Callahan, Peter Capetillo II, Trace Carello, Dave Carrano, Kevin Casto, Julian Chaney, Jackson Clark, Chase Collins, Benjamin Colwell, Jeremy Daum, Riley DeMoss, Gavin Denton, Jack Diederich, Marco Dodson, Kevin Donner, Joseph Duffield, Omar Espinosa, Matthew Ferraro, Matthew Fletcher, William Fredericks, Joseph Fremgen, Rodney Frias, Ryan Frias, Nicholas Funk, Timothy Gilmore, Jacob Hammer, Jacob Harte, Nathan Hastert, Daniel Heineman IV, Matthew Henkel, William Hickey, Jerod Hirner, Thomas Hoban, Tyler Hopfensperger, Luke Hoss, Christopher Hossfeld, Dolan Hunt, Samuel Hutchison, Christopher Ivie, George Jacovides, Alexander Jaffe, Baylor Johnson, Michael Joy, Benjamin Kallas, Harrison Kearby, John King, Samuel Kluber, Thomas Koebel Jr., Matthew Kowalkowski, Brendan Labbe, Kevin Lawinger, Nicholas Lopez, Samuel Luther, Conor Mach, Ian Magee, Jerin Martin, William Matthews, Lucas McDonald, Benjamin Michel, Michael Middendorf, Adam Miller, Brian Miller, Jake Miller, David Montenegro, Sterling Munro, Mark Nyaeme, David Pettyjohn, Bradley Phalen, Valen Piotrowski, Mark Powell, James Powers, Anthony Preziosio Jr., Adam Prosser, Jack Purcell, Albert Rechenmacher, Charles Richard, Joshua Ruddy, Benjamin Rydecki, Jack Saloga, Joseph Schafer, Jacob Schwartz, Michael Seraphin, Thomas Seraphin, Brandon Shimkus, Ivan Snyder, Tito Spizzirri III, Christian Surtz, Jacob Swindle, Michael Szalek, Matthew Talarico, John Tate, Gyovai Tena, Nathan Traxler, Quinn Turcich, Ian Valaik, Jesse Vera, Caleb Vest, Matthew Villa, Zachary Wade, Douglas Warlick, Toby Watase, Jared Weaver, Hunter Weber, Ryan Weber, Erik Weir, Timothy Wheeler, D'Angelo Whitaker, Matthew Wilson, Michael Witte, Matthew Woodcock, +Stephen Woodcock, Patrick Woodford, Richard Wyatt, Kyle N. Yorke, Jonathan Young, Michael Zidek and William Zidek.
Marmion Academy, a Catholic-Benedictine college preparatory school for young men, is a community dedicated to spiritual formation, academic excellence and leadership development. Visit www.marmion.org.