Twenty-two juniors and seniors were recently inducted into the Viewpoint School chapter of the Cum Laude Society.

Students are selected by the faculty for this high honor by demonstrating scholastic excellence, good character, and integrity.

The Cum Laude Society, founded in 1906 in Maryland to recognize superior scholarship in selected high schools in the United States and abroad, was modeled after Phi Beta Kappa, the academic honor society for college graduates.

Viewpoint in Calabasas, a member since 1992, is one of only 31 high schools in California to have earned the honor of having a Cum Laude chapter on campus.

At the induction ceremony attended by students, parents, and faculty in Viewpoint's Carlson Family Theater, the inductees received certificates of membership and Cum Laude pins.

Susan Elliott, Middle and Upper School social studies teacher and Cum Laude faculty member, challenged the students to embrace intellectual inconvenience in the pursuit of the truth.

"We must question, we must investigate, we must research, and then we can draw conclusions ... Democracy demands a dialogue, sometimes that dialogue is hard, contentious, uncomfortable, but it is necessary if we are to pursue truth."

Maddie Schwarz, a Viewpoint senior and 2007 Cum Laude inductee, echoed this charge and admonished the new members to face uncertainty head-on.

"The dynamic interplay between confidence and uncertainty is truly what fuels the constant search for knowledge that defines the learning process ... This dichotomous relationship between the known and the unknown, this intellectual honesty, so to speak, enables us to further establish our own unique identity as individuals."

Viewpoint's Cum Laude members graduating this year will be attending such universities as Dartmouth, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Stanford, Princeton, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Washington University in St. Louis and Yale.

Viewpoint School in Calabasas is a nondenominational, coeducational school of 1,200 students in kindergarten through 12th grade.

A member of the California and National Associations of Independent Schools and the Cum Laude Society, Viewpoint offers a challenging college-preparatory program in a nurturing environment.

For more information about Viewpoint School, please visit www.viewpoint.org.