The morning of graduation, Mercer Island High School celebrated its class of 2014 at the annual Senior Class Breakfast at MIHS. Scholarships and awards were handed out to some of Mercer Island’s student achievers for their efforts in academics, arts, athletics and community service.
Mercer Island senior Mary Wingerson, one of MIHS’ five valedictorians, received four awards, including the Presidential Scholars award, recognition with fellow valedictorian Devina Kumar as a Washington State Scholar and recognition as a Principal’s Scholar for academic excellence. All five Mercer Island valedictorians, a group including Shalva Kohen, Peter Litzow and Rachel Van Gelder, received the Puget Sound Association of Phi Beta Kappa’s Book awards.
Ellena Jones and Peter Litzow each received three awards. Jones and Rachel Gallagher earned the Stanley Ann Dunham Scholarship, and Jones received the Overlake Alumnae Panhellenic scholarship and was a MIHS counseling center scholarship recipient. Litzow earned recognition as a Principal’s Scholar and, along with Isabella Bernal, received an award from the Masons of Washington.
Also earning Principal’s Scholars Awards were Nathan Cummings, Eliana Frank, Rachel Gallagher, Ken Ho, Herbert Jung, Shalva Kohen, Devina Kumar, Sara Lindquist, Julia MacDiarmid, Ryan Newell, Marissa Shibuya, Henry Smith, Rachael Tessem, Renae Tessem and Rachel Van Gelder. Katherine Wright, Hannah Reutercrona, Mallory Manzano and Phaolan Class were recipients of counseling center scholarships.
The Braman Family Writing Scholarship, presented by school board member Pat Braman, was awarded to Hayley Elston. The U.S. Marine Corps handed out its awards for musical excellence to Sydney Blosch and Kevyn Tran, its scholastic excellence awards to Kevin Bernstein and Sara Lindquist and its distinguished athlete awards to Daniel Sims and Sarah Bjarnason. The Pro Lingua award, recognizing foreign language education, was awarded to Rebecca Garcia Moreno.
Natalie Weaver was recognized for earning an Associate of Arts degree from Bellevue College.
PEMCO honored Caroline Kasman with the Robert J. Handy scholarship, which is awarded to seniors who plan to pursue teaching. Mercer Island Chamber of Commerce honored Kylee Skall with its Marketing award, Liem Tu and Emily Bassett were awarded French Sister City scholarships and MIVAL presented scholarships to Caroline Kasman, Yasmeen Nayfeh and Kirby Emerson.
MIHS class president Joseph Chin received the Kiwanis Key Club award, and Crest Learning Center honored Mia Morris with its Founder’s award, while Ben Angel received the Linda Holt award.
