Senior Completes Principia Career on a High Note
Katherine Peticolas ended her senior year with wide-ranging recognition of her accomplishments—from academics to athletics. She won the district level of the Voice of Democracy essay contest sponsored by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. The theme for the contest was “What Makes America Great.” Katherine was also recognized as an Illinois State Scholar for her outstanding academic achievement, and she received the Congressional Bronze Medal for her participation in the National Leadership Council. Katherine was named as a St. Louis Post-Dispatch Scholar Athlete and became a member of the Spanish National Honor Society as well.
Within the Principia community, Katherine was inducted into the Cum Laude Society and received two Upper School awards: the Fannie Ball Perrin Memorial Prose Composition Award and the Steven W. Bigley Award, which goes to the Upper School student who achieves the highest score in calculus and, in the same year, receives a varsity letter in athletics. Katherine lettered in swimming and soccer.
In the fall, Katherine heads to Lake Forest College, where she plans to study marketing and art. She says she chose Lake Forest because it’s “close to home, has an amazing internship program, is located by a big city, and I get to play soccer.”
Asked about her favorite Principia memories, Katherine named the character/Outward Bound trips. “Some of my funniest memories ever were made on those trips, and they made my Crew into a family,” she commented.
Katherine’s biggest takeaway from Principia is what she learned about competition. As she put it, “A Principia competitor wins on the scoreboard (or in the grade book) and beyond it, and that is what I’ll take with me after I graduate.”