Small but Mighty: Church Farm School’s 18-Member Graduating Class Earns Impressive College Acceptances

Surrounded by family, friends, faculty and fellow “Griffins,” the 18 members of the Church Farm School Class of 2025 were honored on May 25 during Baccalaureate and Commencement ceremonies on the private boarding and day high school’s Exton campus. While the graduating class is smaller than in years’ past, their accomplishments are sizable. Three members – Hector Audelo Gutierrez of Paterson, NJ; Kennent Pineda from Newark, NJ; and Achylles Farias from Vimao, Brazil – were named QuestBridge National College Match finalists in October. Hector matched with Amherst and Kennent matched with Swarthmore; both received full, four-year scholarships to attend. As an international student whose uncle graduated from CFS in the 1990s, Achylles’ path was more arduous; despite outstanding grades and extracurriculars, he didn’t receive the financial aid necessary to continue his studies in America. He will return to Brazil to pursue his college education. 

 

Says Neiman Smith, who came to CFS from St. James School in Philadelphia and assumed leadership roles in many areas of school life, “What makes CFS special is that it helps you discover who you are outside of home—how you handle big responsibilities, independence and personal growth. The people and community here make the most of every moment, whether it’s playing basketball in the gym, grabbing food off campus or just spending time together. No matter what, you know you have a support system that always has your back.” Neiman is pursuing sports medicine and psychology at Widener University.

 

Two students who came to CFS from Harlem Academy – Christian Agbor and Amadu Jalloh – will continue their education together at Union College, studying engineering and economics, respectively. Twin brothers Dhondup and Phuntsok Aretsang from CFS partner school George Jackson Academy in New York will attend Gettysburg and Stony Brook. Three scholars from another longtime partner organization in New York – Oliver Scholars – found great success at Church Farm School: Jaime Contreras will study computer science at RIT, Zachary Kogan will join Hector at Amherst and Xavier Osorio will pursue degrees in psychology and applied ethics at Haverford College. Valedictorian and school co-president Alexis “AJ” Gunera from San Miguel Academy in Newburgh, NY, will be studying engineering at Princeton. Legacy student Anthony Espinoza – the voice of CFS athletics through commentating and photography – is heading to St. John’s University to study sports media and photography. Muse Kabiso-Johnson from Connecticut received a full ride to Skidmore College. Paul Kagiri from New Jersey is attending Rutgers. To round out the list, Brandon Linares of Newark, NJ, will pursue his passion for criminal justice at the University of Albany; longtime school mascot Adarsh Rana is heading to Vassar College; and school co-president and legacy scholar Gabe Soriano Fabian is staying close at Lehigh University.

 

Despite being an unusually small class, the Class of 2025 received acceptances to more than 60 prestigious colleges and universities and helped to create many new opportunities for their peers through their work on curriculum committees and advocating with Interim Head of School Tiffany Scott for greater experiential learning opportunities. On July 1, Dr. Troy Baker will become Church Farm School’s fifth Head of School. He will work closely with Tiffany – newly appointed as Associate Head of School – and the rest of the school’s administration to continue the school’s critical mission of providing deserving young men with the opportunity to pursue an all-boys, college preparatory education at an accessible cost; the school provides more than $6M in financial aid annually to its students. Learn more at www.gocfs.net.