75 Members of Lucky Class of ’13 Graduate from Kingswood Oxford

Written by Michelle Murphy, Kingswood Oxford director of communications and marketing

Rain may have forced them inside, but it did not dampen the exuberance of the 75 members of Kingswood Oxford’s Class of ’13, who graduated on May 24 in a warm ceremony filled with wise words from beloved faculty members.  

Early Friday morning, looking at a soggy campus and foreboding skies, Head of School Dennis Bisgaard decided to move the commencement exercises from the picturesque Senior Green to Brayton Ice Hockey Rink, which comfortably held the graduates, their guests, and KO’s entire student body, faculty, and staff.  

He encouraged the students to enjoy their “moment ‘in the sun’ on the big stage, and to hold tight to the beautiful and lasting friendships you have developed with each other, your teachers, and the School.” he continued. “Today, 13 IS a lucky number – a very lucky number indeed.”  

Of the 75 students in the Class of ’13, nine had parents or grandparents who also graduated from KO. The students came from 30 different towns in the Greater Hartford area; the biggest feeder towns were West Hartford (14), Glastonbury/South Glastonbury (9), and Avon and Farmington (which each had 5).

Visit www.kingswoodoxford.org for a complete list of graduates and the colleges and universities to which they were accepted. 

The class included a National Merit Semifinalist, Caley Henderson of West Hartford; five National Merit Commended students; and three students named as Outstanding Participants in the National Achievement Scholarship Program.

Two students intend to play high-level collegiate sports: Kelly Caruso, soccer at Quinnipiac, and Dayna Lord, tennis at Brown.  

Just about one-third of the class (23 students) graduated with honors. Though KO does not name a valedictorian, Mark Toubman of Newington received the “Dux Prize,” awarded to the senior with the highest GPA for the year.  

In keeping with KO tradition, the seniors chose a faculty member – longtime history teacher Rob Kyff – to deliver the commencement address. Known also as “The Word Guy,” whose column appears in The Hartford Courant and numerous other newspapers across the country, Kyff exhorted the students to keep their sense of wonder about the world – and to remember that their education must benefit more than just themselves.

“True education, of course, isn’t all about the joy that learning brings to you alone; it’s also about preparing yourself to sustain, nourish and inspire other people,” he said. “Whether you become a doctor or a teacher or a business owner or a parent, the skills, ideas and values you have imbibed at Kingswood Oxford have thoroughly prepared you to serve the material, intellectual and spiritual needs of your fellow human beings.

“Unless your education is designed to help others, it is merely an exercise in vanity,” he added.

The Class of ’13 left an unusual parting gift to KO: an 8-ton rock. “But this is more than just a big rock,” said Senior Class Parent Committee member Lorraine Marchetti, whose daughter Katie was among the graduates. “This is a spirit rock.”

The day before graduation, assisted by the parents who spearheaded the project, seniors applied the first coat of paint and each of their signatures to the large boulder that now sits in a landscaped bed on campus.

The intention, according to Marchetti, is that other students or groups of alums will paint or embellish the rock in their own way in the future – as is the tradition at UConn and other schools.

“We hope it will become a new tradition at KO,” she said. “That will be the legacy of the Class of ’13.”