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2024-25 Academic Year Kicks Off With Convocation and Community Picnic

September 4, 2024

The 2024-25 academic year officially began on Tuesday, Sept. 3 with the first day of classes and the annual Convocation ceremony and community picnic.

Members of the Class of 2025 donned academic regalia on a sun-soaked Monday afternoon to officially welcome the new academic year. They were joined in a procession down Taylor Drive by select faculty and senior staff to Senior Row, where community members gathered for the Convocation ceremony There, they heard remarks from Chair of the Board of Trustees Cynthia Archer '75; SGA President Cole Churchill '25; Serena Rose Gaskin, a master's student in the Graduate School of Social Work and Social Research on behalf of the graduate students; Associate Professor of History of Art Sylvia Houghteling on behalf of the faculty; and President Wendy Cadge. 

"Convocation symbolizes the start of something magical each year. It is one of ½ñÈճԹϒs most important traditions. Standing here for the first time has me thinking about the magic that happens when students, faculty, staff, alums, neighbors, donors, community partners and friends come together into what we call our community," -- President Wendy Cadge. Read full remarks.

Dean of the Undergraduate College Karlene Burrell-McRae recognized the below recipients of the 2023-24 Student Awards at the ceremony.

National Awards

Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship
Francis Arellano

Critical Language Scholarship for Russian
Glory Zhang

Davis Projects for Peace
Sherab Lhanyitsang
Camille Lopez

Fulbright U.K. Summer Institute
Taylor Jordynne Ferreira ’25 of Pennsylvania


Undergraduate Academic Prizes and Awards 

Charles S. Hinchman Memorial Scholarship 
(East Asian Languages & Cultures and Psychology) 
Olivia Gandee

Elizabeth S. Shippen Scholarship in Foreign Language 
(Romance Languages)
Evangeline Welch

Elizabeth S. Shippen Scholarship in Science
(Biochemistry & Molecular Biology) 
Angelina Rogatch

Hanna Holborn Gray Research Fellowship 
Emma Adelman
Aaditya Bhasker (HC)
Della Burke
Eliza Ellis
Olivia Gandee
Tessa Lippman
Emily Rosenberg
Jared Saef (HC)
Vivienne Schlemmer
Alexandra von Koppenfels
Xutong Zhao

Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship
Jackie Araujo
Esenia Banuelos
Daniella Jacob
Jasmine Marshall
Nyla McNeil

Pensby Fellowship 
Breanna Michelle Brown ’24 of New York
Beza Wondwossen ’23 of Massachusetts


Literary Prizes

Alexander Peschka Prize
Sonya Azencott

Katherine Fullerton Gerould Award
Piper Farmer

Richmond Lattimore Prize for Poetic Translation
Srijanee Basu

Susan Desola Rodstein Derk Award for Formal Poetry
Faith Mayhew

 


Departmental Awards

Anna Lerah Keys Memorial Prize
Julia K. Saint-Amour
Skye Zhong

Elinor Nahm Prize in Elementary Italian
Lucy Brannon
Elise Marrah

Elinor Nahm Prize in Intermediate Italian
Sofia Adrianna Diaz
Sasha Weisman

Elinor Nahm Prize in Italian Language & Literature
Lillian Belzer

Elizabeth Duane Gillespie Fund for Scholarship in American History
Aveline Plenter

Gail Ann Schweiter Prize
Angelina Rogatch
Lia Wong-Fodor

Hester Ann Corner Prize for Distinction in Literature
Reed Richardson

Katherine B. Blodgett 1917 Summer Research Fellowship in Physics
Maja Teofilovska
Sage Thomas

Pauline Jones Prize in French
Rachael M. Finke

Sheelah Kilroy Memorial Scholarship in English
Eleanor Taylor


Other ½ñÈÕ³Ô¹Ï Awards

The Academy of America Poets Prize
Mel Goushian

Judy Loomis Gould Scholarship for Summer Study Abroad
Elana Spector

Maria L. Eastman Brooke Hall Memorial Scholarship
Eva K. Carmona-Rogina
Anjali Mitra
Roshan Perry
Angelina Rogatch
Evangeline Welch
Nora Williamson
Lucy Alice Wilson
 

Thomas Raeburn White Scholarship in Foreign Language Study
Jenny Le
Keya Patel