Celebrations

Congratulations to The Hun School Class of 2021! The 132 members of the class will matriculate at more than 80 colleges and universities this fall.

See photos from the 2021 Commencement Ceremony.

See photos from the Middle School Closing Ceremony.

See photos of Prom 2021. Our seniors had a great time dancing the night away on The Mall.

Learn which seniors were honored with awards and academic prizes.  

Middle School students were recognized with awards at the June 8th Assembly and the Closing Ceremony on June 9. 

Confident, yet approachable, Devon wants underclassmen to do one thing: “dive headfirst into everything.” She took that very advice when she came to Hun as a freshman. “Hun offers so many great things and it’s not the easiest thing to do (jumping in and trying new things), but don’t worry because you’ll find you’re really good at something.” 

As a wide-eyed fifteen year old, Pedro left Brazil to come to the United States, eager to explore everything that the states had to offer.  After just one year, Pedro found himself traveling to Princeton, New Jersey to attend The Hun School. He notes that as soon as he stepped foot onto Hun’s campus, he knew that his love for learning would be matched by people who love to teach. 

Dana Radanovic began her Hun career in the Middle School, teaching pre-algebra and algebra. “One of the neat things about Hun is that I was often able to teach the same student in sixth, seventh, and eighth grades. You really get to know them,” she says.

Gabby Ruiz-Mitchell ’25 believes in the power of relationships. When asked to give advice to newcomers to The Hun Middle School, forging relationships is her number one recommendation. Getting to know your teachers is one way to “focus on getting that community feeling that makes Hun special,” she says.

Photos from the Senior Family Celebration Dinner

He sold plastics for a Taiwanese company, worked as a perfumer at West Windsor-based Firmenich, and taught at Peddie and Princeton Friends School, but for the last twenty-seven years, Dave Bush has been a colorful presence on The Hun School campus as a faculty member of the visual arts department. 

Siqi (Kathy) Wang studied a typical curriculum in a Chinese public school but when she enrolled at The Hun School as a ninth-grade resident student, she was most intrigued by electives. “Electives let you explore your interests,” she says. 

Junle (Richard) Chen is spending the last few weeks of his senior year collaborating on an electricity optimization app. The app, his Senior Capstone, is designed around an animated character, who either suffers or thrives based on your electricity usage. “We’re evoking empathy to get people to be more eco-sensitive,” Richard explains. 

Each year, students take their pick of which NextTerm class they want to take and after taking a few world studies and cultural anthropology courses, Xindi Wang ’21 decided that she wanted to take the course “Life Today Among Native Americans”. For ten days, Xindi and her classmates lived amongst a Navajo tribe on a US Indian Reservation in Arizona. After returning home from her travels, Xindi’s life was forever changed. 

Angelina Wang ’25 enjoys a challenge. One of her favorite subjects in eighth grade has been geography. “It’s a really hard class,” she says. “Mrs. Nuse is hard but it comes from a good place because she wants you to really learn.”

Ms. Somers has been an integral part of The Hun School experience for forty-three years. During her tenure, she has taught English as a Second Language and French in the Upper School, and English and French in the Middle School.

Not only did Amanda earn admission to Columbia University and a four year scholarship for tuition, she is also a recipient of the Gates Foundation Scholarship. The Gates Scholarship is awarded to 300 students each year and covers textbooks, supplies, transportation, or any other out of pocket expenses that she may have at Columbia University over the course of her four years. 

For Zach Eisenberg ’25, The Hun School is the perfect catch, and not just because he is the baseball team’s catcher. “When Zach started Hun, he was a reticent student,” explains Ken Weinstein, Middle School head. “He didn’t enjoy his previous school and wasn’t really sure he wanted to be here,” Mr. Weinstein says.

Reinaldo Gonzalez loves words, whether they are in English or Spanish, the subject he has taught for forty years, thirty of them spent at The Hun School. The self-described “grammarian” has spent countless days helping students hone the finer points of conjugating verbs, but it is words as building blocks for meaningful conversations that truly inspire him.

It always leads back to Legos. The plastic building blocks have launched many careers in architecture, engineering, and computer science, but for Aneesh Patnaik, they were a constant in his childhood. “I loved Legos as a kid,” he says. Legos paved the way to his interest in robotics, something Aneesh got involved with in elementary school and continued when he enrolled at Hun in eighth grade. Joining the robotics team was one of the first things he did when moving to the Upper School.

Some children follow in the footsteps of their parents, but for Karin Guns, she happily followed in her older son’s. The longtime teacher—she spent twenty-five years in Pemberton Township public schools—knew she wanted to be a part of the Hun community when he enrolled as a student. She joined as a faculty member in the science department in 2011.

After traveling over 3,684 miles from the Netherlands to Princeton, New Jersey, Tijmen quickly found himself a home in the Resident Life community. Tijmen notes that having the boarding community as his support system while he adjusted to being away from home during the pandemic made his adjustment into the states as smooth as could be. 

"If I have learned one thing over the past year that I could share with you today, it is to take advantage of every moment and opportunity. Try new foods. Take the trip. Meet as many people as you can. Hug your friends. Fill up your brain with as many new sensory memories as it can hold."

"Congratulations to the class of 2021. In the future, you might feel helpless and without purpose for a while. You might feel isolated and lonely when embarking on unique adventures that no one has set foot on. But be like the cicadas, shout your aspirations to the world, celebrate your passions, allow yourself to be vulnerable despite what others may think, and you will surely find a fulfilling path."

"Saying goodbye is not letting go of each other. It is a tribute to our experience, our memories, and our time together. Hun has given us friendships, mentorships, and growth that will live on with us, way beyond just the years of high school. And for that, I am extremely grateful for every wonderful soul I’ve met at Hun. Thank you, and congratulations, class of 2021! We are all going to do amazing things."

A cap, a gown, and a beaming smile. The first two are synonymous with graduation, but the third was certainly the most meaningful accessory of the day, as 132 members of the Class of 2021 graduated from The Hun School of Princeton. 

From her childhood bedroom in Ohio, Anna Marie spends her days counseling student government advisory representatives on writing bill proposals, supervising the creative process behind student run events and initiatives, supporting the fencing team from afar as they practice, all while attending classes and participating in extracurricular activities. 

Over the course of the last year, Laila Palmer ’21 and Gabby Issa ’18 have navigated starting and running a small business during a time that was particularly difficult for small business owners. Bark + Bee Honey, established in 2020, is an online business that sells fresh honey with 100% of the proceeds benefiting dog shelters in New Jersey.