Introduced by Head of School Bill Taylor as “genuine,” “reverent and irreverent in a remarkably human way,” Head Prefect Kweku Arthur-Mensah’s address to the Class of 2025 was both heartfelt and honest.
Taylor praised Kweku’s ability to lead with authenticity throughout the year, describing him as someone who “found an authentic way to retain his jovial personality and congeniality with the more serious demands of being the top student leader.” As he presented him with the McCollum Award, Taylor concluded: “He is not pretentious, not frilly… he is steady and humble.”
Kweku began his speech with heartfelt thanks to God, his family, and mentors like Mr. and Mrs. Kellogg P’10,’15,’23, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor, Mrs. Coratti, and Father Lennox. He then tackled a familiar question asked of many students: “Why would you go to an all-boys school for four years of high school?” In Kweku’s case, the answer included six.
To explain, he told a story from his sophomore year — a time of, as he put it, “knucklehead shenanigans.” During preseason, with hours to kill between practices, he and a group of friends found themselves caught up in some questionable hijinks in the dorms. What began as harmless boredom quickly escalated, and eventually, disciplinary consequences followed. “I wanted to be a leader at Trinity-Pawling one day, and I had humiliated myself,” he recalled. “I remember asking Mr. Keel if he thought I could be a prefect one day — he said I’d have A LOT of work to do.”
That transformation, he explained, is at the heart of the Trinity-Pawling experience. “At some point in everybody’s Trinity-Pawling career, you will take an L,” he said. “T-P sets the bar high, and it forces students to get outside of their comfort zone every single day.” What matters, he emphasized, is how you respond.
He spoke with pride about his classmates, citing personal examples of their perseverance: Jackson Crisp ’25 rising from the bottom of the class to Cornell; Ryan Bellamy ’25 going from being doubted to varsity basketball captain; and members of the hockey team climbing from JV to one of the best teams in prep. “That’s grit,” he repeated throughout the speech.
Kweku paid special tribute to the late Matthew Dooley ’23, a classmate who fought brain cancer with quiet courage and left a lasting legacy. “That is grit. That is what being a T-P man is all about.”
He concluded with a charge to his classmates: “When challenges come, when roadblocks get in the way, as a Trinity-Pawling man, you attack that challenge head-on.” Quoting the Bible, he added: “There is no darkness that which the light cannot overcome. Class of 2025, be the willers of light and go out and be the willers of good into the world.”
With strength, sincerity, and his signature humor, Kweku closed by reminding his classmates that they are never alone. “If things ever do go wrong… rest assured you have 82 brothers that you can always lean on.”