Southern Pines – The O’Neal School held its 40th commencement on Friday, May 27th in Owens Auditorium at Sandhills Community College. The commencement was preceded by a Baccalaureate Service at Brownson Presbyterian Church on Thursday, May 26th. United States Army Chaplain and O’Neal parent Major David Curlin delivered the welcome and prayer at the service. At Commencement, Class Valedictorian William Schirmer, son of Dr. and Mrs. Charles Schirmer, and O’Neal alumnus, Eric Subin ‘04 addressed the graduates. Mr. Subin is an attorney with Subin Associates, LLP in New York City.
The class of 2016, consisting of 32 students, amassed a dollar amount of $3.3M in merit-based scholarships. This includes William Schirmer receiving the prestigious Johnson Scholarship for Washington and Lee University, Ian Johnson receiving a military ROTC Scholarship to the Citadel and Logan Watkins receiving the Gates Millennium Scholarship. More than 50% of the class will be attending colleges and universities out of state, such as Wellesley College, The University of Georgia, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, George Mason University, Franklin University in Switzerland, Washington State University and University of Hawaii at Manoa.
Other notable academic achievements for the 2015-2016 school year include William Schirmer making it to the semi-finalist round for the Morehead Cain Scholarship. O’Neal’s COMAP (Consortium for Mathematics and Its Applications) team members – Lauren Dailey ’16, Emily MacKillop ’16, William Schirmer ’16 and Bridge Hu ’17- made the finalist level in the intense international math modeling competition. Only 11 teams placed ahead of O’Neal’s team out of the 446 teams worldwide. John Anderson ‘16 won Superior Delegation representing China in UNICEF council during the spring Model UN competition at Appalachian State University.
Chloe Hoffman ‘16 will be joining the ladies’ soccer team at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, FL. Sarah Colthart ‘16 has committed to play on the women’s basketball team at Hood College in Frederick, MD. The O’Neal School Varsity Girls Swim Team won the 2016 EPIC conference championship.
Locally, O’Neal claimed six of the fifteen placed winners for the annual Moore County Young People’s Arts Festival. First place winners were Tori Landers ’16 for Photo/Digital Art and Gillian Munro ’16 for 3-D Art.
O’Neal is a college preparatory, independent day school. Presently, it serves students from pre-kindergarten age 3 through 12th grade. O’Neal is dedicated to the development of academic excellence, strength of character and physical well-being of its students in an environment where self-discipline, integrity and consideration for others are fundamental. The School is dually accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) and the Southern Association of Independent Schools (SAIS). Tuition assistance and limited transportation services are available. For more information about the O’Neal School, contact Director of Admissions Olivia Webb, at (910) 692-6920 or go to www.ONealSchool.org<http://www.ONealSchool.org>.
