The Jordan Wales ’97 History Award is presented to the student or students who have contributed the most to the school’s history community. This year, the faculty chose Gustavo Silveira ‘17 and Cecilia Ergueta ’18 for their hard work in the field!

In order to be considered, the candidates, as Donald Morton History Department puts it, need to demonstrate “a mastery of research, analysis, and interpretation [of historical material]. We also look for students who are involved with history-sponsored events like History Bowl, Geography Bee, etc.” Candidates are also expected to be leaders in their history class discussions and show an awareness of social issues, both community and globally related, and then show the historical roots of these issues. The History Department makes their decision based on the student’s contributions to the school’s history community and the promise they show to apply these lessons to the benefit of the world.

Silveira and Ergueta were selected because of their outstanding work in the Friends School history community. Betsy Cepparulo History Department commented: “I think both Cecilia and Gustavo are phenomenal in so many ways and both provide such a service to our community in terms of clerking clubs helping to start the diversity club, MOAS, QYLC, and History Bowl, being role models for younger students, and needless to say being truly outstanding history students, in every sense of the word. Because they do so much, both apart and together, we felt like the both deserved the award equally.” They were both heavily involved in the history community, both in the classroom and outside.

Ergueta does a service to our school with the work she does. She is a fantastic history student. Scott Clothier History Department commented: “Cecilia has already taken SL World Religions and she is in the midst of taking HL history. She wrote a tremendous religious investigation as a 10th grader. Her question was why is meditation central to the Self Realization Fellowship. She is also currently working on her history extended essay.”

Silveria has similarly done many things to enhance his own learning of history and those around him. Javier Ergueta History Department commented: “Gustavo has extraordinarily high standards for academic work. I think it’s notable that he won this award despite the fact that his intellectual and career interests are in the science and math area. Nevertheless, the major research work in History HL, his historical investigation, was without a doubt the best in his class. It would do well if submitted even in a college class. In addition, he is exemplary in his citizenship. Applying the lessons of history to his conduct at school, leading significant efforts to raise the level of our communities awareness of historical events, some of which we are living through right now. One example if this is that he single handedly orchestrated the mock election and ran it very effectively.”

This year’s Jordan Wales ’97 History Award winners are outstanding. They both have enriched and enhanced the historical community at Wilmington Friends School. These two students both live up to the expectation that if they were to continute in this field, they would be very successful.