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Matriculation and Acceptances

Spotlight On: Conrad Pentaleri, CCES Class of 2017

by Jamie Bryant, Director of Marketing and PR
Our final spotlight features a student who has energy, creativity and smarts.  In fact, he’s been propelling the students news publication, The Cavalier, forward for the past two years as co-editor and currently its Editor in Chief.  After the layers of editing and the number of stories he has touched, I can’t help but wonder what Conrad Pentaleri will think of this, his own story.

Conrad Pentaleri is a life-long Wolverines fan and will fulfill his dream of attending the University of Michigan this fall.  Maize and blue runs in his blood, as both of Conrad’s parents are alumni of the school.  Conrad will enter into Michigan’s Ross School of Business, an elite program frequently ranked on the Forbes list of Best Business Schools as a freshman, and pursue a Bachelor of Business Administration with a possible concentration in finance.  Conrad also gained acceptance to Boston College, Georgia Tech, University of South Carolina Honors College, North Carolina State University, Indiana University Honors College, and Lehigh University.  Ultimately, he says, his decision came down to Michigan and Boston College.  His lifelong connection to Michigan won.

It might be a long way from Greenville, SC, but Conrad has no qualms about going to suburban Ann Arbor or moving from a small private school to a school with such a massive student body and equally sprawling campus.  Conrad is social and comfortable engaging with people from a variety of backgrounds and has every intention to join student clubs and get very involved, which he says, “can make a large school feel very small.”

Conrad is no stranger to school involvement.  He has added immense value to CCES as a scholar, athlete, and leader.  He is a member and four year starter of the Varsity Lacrosse team, as well as a two year captain of the team and was named US Lacrosse Academic All-American and All-State first team as a senior, All-State second team as a junior, scoring over 100 career goals.  He also played football as a senior, has served on the Honor Council as a junior and a senior, and has been a four year member of the staff of The Cavalier, serving as Co-Editor his junior year and Editor-in-Chief as a senior.  At the end of his junior year, Conrad was awarded the George Eastman Young Leaders Award for outstanding academic achievement and leadership; he has been a consistent AP Scholar with Distinction in recognition of his performances on AP exams, and was inducted to the French Honor Society as a sophomore.  He was a finalist in the South Carolina High School Writing Contest hosted by the Honors College at USC, an honor he is particularly proud of.  “I submitted an abridged version of my senior thesis in the first round and competed in the second round at USC in March,” Conrad said.  “Promptly asked how to improve SC; I wrote about the public education system.  It will be published in an anthology with the other finalists.”  Winners from the second round of competition have yet to be announced.

“I am constantly and significantly impressed by Conrad,” said his College Counselor Lindsey Waters.  “I am most impressed by Conrad’s drive to go above and beyond. He is not satisfied with the status quo and consistently strives to not only try something new, but to excel at it.  It exhausts me just thinking about it!”

Conrad has navigated his four years of high school in a way that is anything but typical.  Tasked with the challenges of academics and athletics, as well as the responsibility of leading a staff of students and a newspaper that is both print and online, we think he’s more than prepared for college and the demanding situations that come with it.

JUST FOR FUN!

If you could relive one CCES experience, what would it be?  When we beat Greenville HS in lacrosse for the second time this past season.  We soundly defeated our rival in a home playoff game after having some tough losses to them in previous years.  It was fun to play in this game with my teammates and great to have all the support from my classmates on the sideline.
What is one of the things you would put on your bucket list?  One thing that few people know about me is that I am a Formula 1 racing fan.  My dad introduced me to the sport when I was young, and I have grown up loving to watch it.  Thus, one thing on my bucket list is to attend the Monaco Grand Prix.  The race has a beautiful circuit and a long history.
If you could choose anyone, who would you pick as your mentor?  Tom Brady.  Brady, a Michigan graduate and 5x Super Bowl Champion, is a tremendous leader and competitor.  I resembled my leadership on the lacrosse field to that of Brady by trying to stay positive with my teammates and by respecting the authority of my coaches.  I also keep a competitive edge like Brady in that I give each opponent all that I have.
If you could travel back in time and visit your younger self, what grade would you go back to and why?  I would want to speak to myself in the ninth grade.  Ninth grade is a difficult time; moving into high school is a major transition in life.  I would want to go back to ninth grade to tell myself not to worry about insecurities and to seek genuine people as friends.
What is the last book you read?  Being the son of an English major and named after the author Joseph Conrad, it is natural that I enjoy reading.  Two of my favorite authors are F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.  However, the most recent book that I read is Reviving America by Steve Forbes because I was intrigued by the arguments in the book that I learned about from a video we watched in Mrs. Carmichael’s IB Economics class.

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Christ Church Episcopal School (“CCES”) admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at CCES. CCES does not discriminate on the basis of sex, race, color, national or ethnic origin, creed, religion, or sexual orientation in the administration of its educational policies, admission policies, financial aid, scholarship or other programs, or athletic or other school-administered programs and activities.