The Culver Cannon

Seniors Albert Lu and Joy Chung offered a portrait of Culver Academies defined not by ease, but by resilience, community and an understanding that their school is different.

Lu (Granger, Indiana), who will attend Princeton University, and Chung (Seoul, South Korea), who will attend Stanford University, were chosen by classmates to give the Baccalaureate Service Convocation speeches at Memorial Chapel on Saturday.

Carl (Feiqi) Chen ’27 placed fourth in the biomedical engineering category at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair, matching the best finish by a Culver Academies student in the prestigious competition.

Chen won a “grand award” of $600 for inventing a device designed to improve early cancer detection by isolating tumor cells in the bloodstream. His fourth-place finish in Phoenix matched the finish of William (Minran) Wang ’25, who two years ago also placed in the biomedical engineering category for a dynamic robotic spinal brace with adaptive treatment for spinal deformities. 

Bob Meek ’61 told Culver Academies students he volunteered to fight in the Vietnam War because he felt it was his generation’s responsibility and duty, he had concerns about fairness in the draft system and he also thought it would be an adventure and an opportunity to test himself. 

But in reflecting on the lasting lessons and human cost of his service in Vietnam, Meek told the students during the school’s annual Memorial Day Gold Star observance that war should always be the last resort. 

Author Nicholas Epley, a University of Chicago professor, told Culver Academies students that even in a hyperconnected world, people routinely avoid interactions with others that would make them happier.

“If social connection is so darn good for us, why do we so often seem to be reluctant to do it?” asked Epley, a social psychologist and author of “A Little More Social, How Small Choices Create Unexpected Happiness, Health, and Connection,” during an All-School Meeting. “Why do we so often seem to be not social enough for our own good, or choose to be unsocial?”

International supermodel Leah Reynolds ’11 encouraged Culver Girls Academy students to take risks, embrace rejection and persevere, saying those choices will lead to the life of their dreams.

 Reynolds and Nevaeh Navarre ’26 shared stories of resiliency during a Culver Women’s Celebration Alumnae Event.

A pair of Culver Military Academy first classmen won the $5,000 first prize in the Miclot Family Business Plan Competition for an off-grid communication device they created.

The competition provides Culver students with realistic experience requiring teamwork, collaboration and field research under the guidance of a mentor entrepreneur.