May 31, 2019
Dear IMSA Community,
We are only a few days away from commencement 2019. The campus grows quieter each day as students leave for home after completing their final exams. On Friday, May 31, we will have rehearsals for commencement in the morning and Senior Banquet in the evening. A heartfelt thank you to the Parent Advisory Council (PAC) and the parents who have been working to make Senior Banquet a memorable event. Please join me in extending an early congratulations to the Class of 2019!
Class of 2019
Here’s the latest report from Julia Husen, Coordinator of College and Academic Counseling (CAC Office).
The college admission process for the 2019 graduating class is officially over and we are delighted to share with you our students’ college destinations! We are very proud of the college decisions made by the members of the Class of 2019!
Here are some interesting statistics about our graduating seniors:
- 198 seniors will matriculate to 73 different institutions!
- 100 students will be attending a college/university in Illinois, 96 will be attending a college/university out of state, and two students will be attending a school abroad.
The following schools will have two or more IMSA graduates as freshmen in the fall:
- University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign – 54 attending (out of 146 accepted students)
- University of Illinois at Chicago – 16 (59)
- St. Louis University – 8 (20)
- Loyola University Chicago – 6 (21)
- Illinois Institute of Technology – 5 (31)
- Northwestern University – 5 (9)
- University of Chicago – 5 (8)
- Carnegie Mellon University – 3 (9)
- Case Western Reserve University – 3 (18)
- Johns Hopkins University – 3 (5)
- Massachusetts Institute of Technology – 3 (3)
- Rochester Institute of Technology – 3 (8)
- Stanford University – 3 (3)
- The University of Alabama in Huntsville – 3 (4)
- University of Michigan – 3 (15)
- Washington University in St. Louis – 3 (9)
- Yale University – 3 (4)
- Arizona State University – 2 (5)
- California Institute of Technology – 2 (3)
- Cornell University – 2 (3)
- Duke University – 2 (3)
- Florida Institute of Technology – 2 (7)
- Indiana University at Bloomington – 2 (9)
- Northeastern University – 2 (10)
- St. Olaf College – 2 (4)
- The Ohio State University – 2 (6)
- The University of Texas, Austin – 2 (5)
- The University of Texas, Dallas – 2 (8)
- University of Missouri Kansas City – 2 (8)
- University of St. Francis – 2 (2)
“Senior” Recognition
While the entire Class of 2019 will be listed in our Commencement Program, several “seniors” will not be listed because they took much longer than three years to “graduate” from IMSA. I would like to extend our congratulations and deepest appreciation to our “seniors” who are IMSA retirees. They have shared their talents, passions, stories, ideas and their lives with IMSA over many, many years. The Class of 2019 can be proud to call them their “classmates.”
- Phyllis Chesnut, Admissions – 29 years. Phyllis was likely responsible for placing virtually every IMSA applicant into the database, except for the Charter Class.
- Ellyn Heinz, Principal’s Office – 32 years. Ellen scheduled, re-scheduled, and re-re-scheduled students for Intersession. And she tried her best to get them into their first or second choice!
- Dr. Robert Kiely, History/Social Science Faculty – 24 years. Dr. Kiely has influenced countless students. Actually, you could probably count them: 25 students times four classes per semester times two semesters per year times 24 years equals approximately 5,000 students!
- Jon Marks, IT Support Engineer/Lead Trainer – 25 years. Jon has supported IMSA students and staff for 25 years. Before there was an internet, there was Jon!
- Dr. Claiborne Skinner, History/Social Science Faculty – 26 years. Dr. Skinner “baptized” more sophomores into IMSA’s American Studies courses and provided feedback on their writing probably more than any one person in recorded history, not just IMSA’s history!
- Betsy Wisdom, IT Support Specialist – 30 years. Betsy has been with IMSA since almost the beginning. Her supportive attitude and “wisdom” debugged many laptops, chrome books, etc.
If you would like to leave a “thank you” note, or share how any of these “seniors” influenced you, or what they meant to you, please consider leaving a comment here and we will ensure that they receive it. Some people have also asked me if they can make a donation to the IMSA Fund or the Presidential Scholarship Endowment Fund in their honor to show their appreciation and gratefulness for them. You may do so here.
One more good news item. Last Friday, May 24, we held our 2019 Alumni Awards Assembly honoring four outstanding alumni. In the past, IMSA used to hold these awards in the evening with only a few invited guests attending a dinner assembly. During my tenure, we have held an assembly to shine a bright light on our alumni award recipients. The entire student body and IMSA staff, including faculty are invited to attend.
The recipients of the 2019 Board of Trustees Alumni Awards are:
The Trailblazer Award honors outstanding achievements of alumni who have earned national or international prominence for a groundbreaking or sweeping initiative that has redefined and improved the way significant numbers of citizens live, learn or work.
- Dr. Anna Yusim ’95 is a board-certified psychiatrist with a private practice in New York City and author of the 2017 award winning book, Fulfilled: How the Science of Spirituality Can Help you Live a Happier, More Meaningful Life.
The Titan Award honors alumni who have demonstrated outstanding support and service to IMSA advancing the institution’s mission and work.
- Lacey Thomas ’08 has given back to IMSA in a multitude of ways. She has served on the IMSA admissions review team, volunteered with mentorship programs and has contributed to the development of culturally, linguistically, economically, and diverse students at IMSA.
The Distinguished Leader Award honors alumni who have made distinguished achievements or leadership contributions in their professional fields of endeavor consistent with IMSA’s mission.
- Arati Shroff ’98 is a career U.S. diplomat. Arati is currently a UNA Chapman Cox Fellow and East-West Center Adjunct Fellow analyzing Chinese foreign investment in the United Sates in emerging high tech sectors. She is a frequently invited university guest lecturer, panelist and moderator who exchanges insights with diverse audiences on topics ranging from international financial markets to international women’s issues.
- Sabrina Gonzalez Pasterski ’10 earned an undergraduate physics degree from MIT in three years with a perfect GPA and is now a Ph.D. candidate in physics at Harvard’s Center for Fundamental Laws of Nature. In addition to generating buzz as the “next Einstein,” her research on black holes and space-time has been cited by the likes of the late Stephen Hawking.
Please join me in congratulating our 2019 graduates and our alumni award winners. If you would like to see the video of the award assembly, click here.
Wishing everyone a wonderful summer!
Best regards,
José M. Torres, Ph.D.
President
P.S. If you would like to nominate alumni for future awards, please click here.
Dear IMSA Community,
As an addendum to my previous Personal Reflection where I included the schools who will have two or more IMSA graduates as freshmen in the fall from the Class of 2019, the following schools will have one IMSA graduate as freshman, or midshipman in the fall:
- University of Illinois at Springfield – 1 (out of 2 accepted students)
- Bradley University – 1 (10)
- Illinois Wesleyan University – 1 (3)
- Knox College – 1 (5)
- Lawrence University – 1 (2)
- Michigan Technological University – 1 (6)
- Michigan State University – 1 (22)
- Milwaukee School of engineering – 1 (1)
- Monmouth College – 1 (1)
- Northern Illinois University – 1 (2)
- Purdue University – 1 (29)
- The University of Alabama – 1 (1)
- Wayne State University – 1 (2)
- Western Illinois University – 1 (1)
- Columbia University – 1 (3)
- Fordham University – 1 (4)
- Binghamton University – 1 (1)
- New York University – 1 (6)
- Swarthmore College – 1 (2)
- University of Pennsylvania – 1 (2)
- University of Rochester – 1 (3)
- Amherst College – 1 (1)
- Colorado School of Mines – 1 (4)
- Harvey Mudd College – 1 (1)
- University of California, Berkeley – 1 (4)
- University of Colorado at Boulder – 1 (7)
- University of Southern California – 1 (2)
- North Carolina A&T State University -1 (2)
- Emory University – 1 (11)
- Nova Southeastern University – 1 (2)
- United States Naval Academy – 1 (1)
- Texas A&M University – 1 (7)
- Carleton College – 1 (1)
- Drake University – 1 (4)
- Iowa State University – 1 (16)
- Macalester College – 1 (2)
- Rice University – 1 (2)
- Saint John’s University (with College of Saint Benedict) – 1 (2)
- University of Nebraska at Lincoln – 1 (2)
- Xavier University of Louisiana – 1 (3)
- The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley – 1 (1)
- Duke Kunshan University (China)- 1 (4)
- Tsinghua University (China) – 1 (1)
Have a safe and happy summer!
Respectfully,
José M. Torres, Ph.D.
President
