A medievalist with a specialty in Chaucer—and a member of the first co-ed class at The Williston Northampton School—will be the guest speaker at the school’s Cum Laude induction ceremony on Tuesday, January 31, at 8:30 a.m. at the Phillips Stevens Chapel on campus. The ceremony honors 11 seniors who have excelled academically.

Sheila Fisher ’72, associate academic dean and professor of English at Trinity College, has published several books on Chaucer, including The Selected Canterbury Tales: A New Verse Translation (2011). A summa cum laude graduate of Smith College, Fisher also co-edited a volume of feminist contextual essays on medieval and renaissance writings.

Fisher will help induct the following students into the Cum Laude Society:

 

Katherine T. Cavanaugh, South Hadley, MA

Alexander J. Cervone, Dalton, MA

Addison Maria M. Coley, South Deerfield, MA

Kevin L. Conroy, Easthampton, MA

Adam B. Curtis, Ashfield, MA

Jonathan P. Deaton, Longmeadow, MA

Alex S. Garcia, Easthampton, MA

Elizabeth A. de Ubl, Hadley, MA

Samuel E. Slezek, Hatfield, MA

Midori Tagawa, Japan

Hansen Yang, People’s Republic of China

 

The event will be webcast and available to viewers from across the country and around the world.

The Cum Laude Society, founded in 1906 and modeled after Phi Beta Kappa, honors scholastic achievement in secondary schools. The society has 382 chapters, with the majority in independent schools. In 1921, Williston Academy became a member of the society, followed by Northampton School for Girls in 1951. In 1971, a new charter was created for The Williston Northampton School.