Better Together

For Aedyn Kourakos ’26 and Elle Ruminski ’26, friendship is the foundation for intellectual curiosity, ambition, and growth.

BY KRISTIN DUISBERG

It’s not easy getting Aedyn Kourakos ’26 and Elle Ruminski ’26 to talk about themselves. Speak with the pair together, however, and what you’ll find is that each is eager to talk about the other’s accomplishments. The only trick is trying to ensure that, as the two pick up one another’s sentences and deflect each other’s compliments, you’ve captured an accurate inventory — a list that includes both individual highlights and milestones they’ve attained as best friends.

As Fourth Formers, the pair founded a club, Women in Leadership; created a new science-focused publication, The Scire; and worked together on the School newspaper, The Pelican. During their Fifth Form year, the duo became debate partners and assumed leadership roles with The Pelican. In their final year at SPS, they headed up Girls Advancing in STEM, served as co-editors-in-chief of The Pelican, and notched a perfect season in debate, competing as partners in the advanced category. They also each served as prefects — Kourakos in Ford and Ruminski in Kehaya — and completed the Applied Science and Engineering Program: Ruminski calculating the geometry of intermediate black holes at the College of Charleston in South Carolina and Kourakos analyzing the thermal stability of lithium-ion battery cathode materials at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell. Both wrote papers from the experience that are in preparation for publication. Kourakos also ran cross country and track, captaining both teams and setting School records in multiple events, and played violin in the Orchestra. Ruminski played varsity soccer and hosted an astronomy-focused podcast, SpaceBabble, with Thomas Armstrong ’26. They ran half-marathons together, baked together, and cheered each other on at sporting events.

“I don’t think I would have done even half of the things I’ve done if it weren’t for doing them with Aedyn, which allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and grow.”

— Elle Ruminski ’26

Accomplishments aside, what’s most remarkable in talking with Kourakos and Ruminski is how much each respects the other’s personal qualities. “What I find inspiring about Elle is that she’s deeply curious … about the world, but also about how she can change it,” Kourakos says.

“Aedyn cares more than anything in the entire world about the things that she loves and is the most positive, uplifting person ever,” counters Ruminski. “She’s committed to helping me grow as a person.” They trust each other and are able to disagree respectfully. Each contends that the other brightens every room she enters.

Both struggled as Third Formers to find their place at St. Paul’s, but they bonded over what Ruminski describes as JOMO — the joy of missing out. “As you go through your time at St. Paul’s you get less attracted to the idea of a friend group and more attracted to spending time with individuals who you look up to; individuals who interest you, rather than just going with the flock,” she explains. The pair spent a Spring Term evening making friendship bracelets and decided they’d live together as Fourth Formers. “It was almost this instinctive rush of, ‘Oh, I have a hunch we’re going to be great friends,’” Kourakos says.

That fall, both were selected to attend the Girls Advancing in STEM conference at the University of Chicago, and they agree that the shared experience was a catalyst for their enduring bond. “I remember getting back to our hotel room one night and being like, ‘What are we interested in?’ and not knowing the answer to that feeling was overwhelming,” Ruminski says. That moment turned into the realization that it was possible to cultivate multiple interests at St. Paul’s — and to take their own approaches to similar passions. Kourakos has more of an artistic bent (she’s a painter as well as a violinist) while Ruminski has explored the limits of the School’s math and science curricula. “Everything we’ve done has been alongside each other, even when they’re different things,” Ruminski continues. “But I don’t think I would have done even half of the things I’ve done if it weren’t for doing them with Aedyn, which allowed me to get out of my comfort zone and grow.”

College will take Ruminski and Kourakos in separate directions. Kourakos is headed to Duke, where she intends to study mechanical engineering and economics. Ruminski is enrolling at Harvard with a plan to major in astrophysics and government. They’re not dwelling on the separation — at least in part because they had one more joint endeavor planned for life after Millville: two weeks hiking the Camino de Santiago, taking the El Norte route through Spain.

“It’s going to be a good physical challenge,” Ruminski says. “But also we’re going to have days where we’re going to be talking for hours on end.” Being prefects this year in different dorms meant an end to the long nights the pair used to spend talking about everything from Supreme Court term limits to the coordinates of the pyramids at Giza and the possibilities of alien life. “I can’t wait to continue that conversation with Aedyn,” Ruminski says.

“And I don’t think that conversation will ever not be interesting,” Kourakos adds.