Board of Ed Honors NCHS Seniors Isabel Taben, Charlie Lenihan

The Board of Education on Monday night honored two New Canaan High School seniors recognized for their leadership skills, concern for others, willingness to take on challenges and ability to make difficult decisions.

The Student Leadership Award from the Connecticut Association of Boards of Education—a Wethersfield-based advocacy group known as ‘CABE’—goes to a male and female senior from participating districts who also exemplify a willingness commit to a project, diplomacy, an ability to understand issues clearly and dedication to honor commitment, New Canaan’s superintendent of schools, Dr. Bryan Luizzi, told about 100 people at a Board of Education meeting.

This year’s CABE award winners are Isabel Taben and Charlie Lenihan, as decided by teachers, counselors and administrators, Luizzi said at the meeting, held in the Wagner Room at NCHS.

Luizzi described Washington University-bound (in St. Louis) Lenihan—a National Merit Finalist who also earned the Norm Ricker Award, Director’s Award and Pennyweights Award at the recent NCHS Recognition Ceremony— as a student who “loves to engage his peers and teachers in lively theoretical debates” and possesses an “insatiable curiosity” and “loves to learn.”

“Charlie’s boundless energy and positive spirit are infectious, and his passion for life is inspiring for those around him,” Luizzi said.

An intellectually curious person and swimmer who challenges himself and has played violin since the fifth grade, Lenihan will spend this summer on Long Beach Island, where Luizzi himself will spend part of the summer. Lenihan had told Luizzi to look him up, and the superintendent said he would: “He’ll be hard to miss, because as you can see he makes a tangible impact everywhere he goes. We are very luck to have had Charlie on hand as a student, athlete and community member these past few years. He is truly a gentleman and scholar.”

Of Dartmouth-bound NCHS standout Isabel Taben, Luizzi said her “enormous energy, passion and zest for life defines all she does in and out of the classroom.”

“After our conversation together, I wasn’t sure whether I was ready to take a nap or run a marathon. But I knew that Isabel was ready for whatever comes her way. Isabel’s seemingly boundless energy and positive outlook on life shine through all that she does, and she has been a standout leader of this year’s senior class.”

A four-year varsity field hockey and lacrosse player who led the Rams to a dramatic FCIAC championship win versus rival Darien, Taben also has served in the Student Advocates, National Charity League, New To New Canaan Club and as political president and vice president of her class in the Student Coalition, Luizzi said.

With that, and a demanding class schedule and other activities, “one would think that Isabel’s plate is pretty full, and that she could only find time to eat and sleep between all these activities.”

“However, she is capable of much more: As a student-athlete here at NCHS, Isabel shines again,” Luizzi said.

Memorably, Taben led the Rams to the field hockey final and scored the only two goals in the penultimate game just weeks after her father unexpectedly suffered a heart attack, something that was very much on the teen’s mind during the games she helped NCHS win.

She was named Player of the Game for that FCIAC final and went on to win the Harold S. Kenney Award as a scholar-athlete, Luizzi said.

“With all of these incredible accomplishments, it is humbling to consider that Isabel’s most outstanding characteristic—as described by teachers, administrators and peers—is her compassion for others,” Luizzi said. “She is a strong and vocal ally who has the confidence and courage to stand up for others in need.”