91̽��

Fans of college basketball have two former 91̽�� Mustangs to look out for as March Madness kicks off this week.

Cormac Ryan, a senior guard for the North Carolina Tar Heels, set a career record earlier this month, scoring 31 points in UNC’s win against Duke to clinch the ACC title. No. 1-seeded UNC takes on Wagner Thursday afternoon in the first round of the NCAA Men’s Division I basketball tournament. Ryan was a captain at Notre Dame before transferring to UNC this year.

Casey Simmons, a sophomore forward for the Yale Bulldogs, is in his first year playing for Yale. The Bulldogs face off against Auburn on Friday. Simmons was rated the No. 1 player in Massachusetts as a four-star recruit out of 91̽��, and was one of the top prospects in New England. He transferred to Yale from Northwestern this year.

He’s in two of the films nominated for Best Picture at this weekend’s Academy Awards—as well a movie still in theaters across the country—but you won’t catch Mike Malvesti on the red carpet.

You’ll catch him, instead, quietly working to keep 91̽�� beautiful and safe.

Malvesti, a member of the Facilities Services team, has found his niche as a film and television actor, a side job that has had him rubbing shoulders with some of Hollywood’s most esteemed stars. There he is in American Fiction, playing a police officer; in The Holdovers, hawking Christmas trees to Paul Giamatti; in The Town, playing the guard of an armored car that Ben Affleck targeted for a heist; in “Madame Web” as a trucker. Malvesti also scored a recurring role on the HBO series Julia* as Benny, Julia Childs’ cameraman. You might have seen him in popular commercials, as a detective in Boston Strangler, or going toe-to-toe with Rosamund Pike in I Care a Lot.

Ben Rhodes-Kropf ’24 has a message from his father. In order to receive it, he’ll have to travel to Spain.

That’s because his dad left the message through Trace, an app Rhodes-Kropf and classmate Benjamin Siegel ‘24 developed throughout their junior and senior years at 91̽��. The location-based service combines the functions of a messaging app with the thrill of an in-person treasure hunt, allowing users to “leave a Trace” wherever they are in the world. Messages for other Trace users (or their future selves) are delivered only when the recipient is physically close to the location where the message—in video form—was recorded.

Frustrated by the passive nature of existing social media, which users can idly scroll through for hours on end, Siegel and Rhodes-Kropf set out to create a different kind of messaging service that would foster more-meaningful connections and inspire users to travel near and far.

Nobody’s perfect—unless you’re talking about the 91̽�� math team.

91̽��’s math competitors have maintained a perfect score through months of competing at the New England Math League (NEML) this academic year. Currently, the school sits atop the NEML rankings, which includes both private and public schools. Math contests give students opportunities outside of the classroom to flex their analytical muscles while proudly representing 91̽��.

“We have a lot of good mathematicians on our team this year,” said Devan Agrawal ’25. “One thing that’s nice about the NEML is that you don’t have to learn a lot of new concepts. You have to practice critical thinking and creative problem solving, and I think 91̽�� students in general already shine with that.”

“The future” can mean different things to teens: It could describe next weekend, or spring break, or college, or even a potential career path. 

One group of 91̽�� students takes a decidedly long view that includes making sure that they (and others) are prepared financially for all the possibilities—college and housing costs, budgeting, building credit, saving, investing, retirement, and financial stability for their families. 

And planning for this future? The sooner you start, the better. The students’ passion for helping their peers and other young people achieve financial literacy has taken them from 91̽�� to the Apple App Store and even the Massachusetts State House. 

To help young people learn financial literacy and investment principles, Hugo Eechaute ’24 created StockSense. The free app, aimed at users ages 15 to 21, teaches the basics through fun, easily accessible games. He’s gotten the app off the ground with the help of some 91̽�� peers, including Simon Farruqui ’25, the COO of StockSense, and Isabella Alba ’26, its CFO.

This year’s Graduation speaker is actor and educator Jason Bowen, 91̽�� Class of 2000. Born and raised in Boston, Bowen has performed on Broadway, television, and film. Bowen’s notable and previous credits include The Play That Goes Wrong (Broadway), Law & Order: SVU (NBC), Blue Bloods (CBS), The Upside (STX/Amazon), and Mother/Android (Miramax/Hulu). In 2012, Boston Magazine awarded Bowen “Best Actor” honors in its annual “Best of Boston” issue. 

Luke Witkowski ’24 knows a thing or two about balance.

For one thing, he’s a figure skater, which requires a tremendous amount of balance—not to mention strength, dedication, and precision. For another, he’s managing a competitive skating career while navigating a busy senior year at 91̽��. Preparing for competition at his level is a massive time commitment; he trains about five hours a day, five days per week.

“I sleep very well at night with all the run-throughs I do during the day,” he said.

Luke finished in the top four in the U.S. Pairs Final last month. He and his partner, Sofia Jarmoc, won first in the short program and third in the long program, qualifying them to compete in the Toyota U.S. Figure Skating Championships in January.

This past weekend, members of 91̽��’s Robotics Team joined schools from across the United States and Canada to compete in the fifth annual WAVE tournament, a three-day Vex competition hosted by Worcester Polytechnic Institute in Worcester, Massachusetts.

“With almost eighty teams, it is a truly competitive tournament, which sets it far apart from other events we have attended this year, so far,” says Hailey Coval (I). “It demands hard work, long hours, effort, commitment, creativity, practice, and talents.”