Members of Princeton University's Class of 2014 gathered on Cannon Green Monday, June 2, to celebrate the conclusion of their undergraduate careers in a Class Day ceremony honoring their leadership and accomplishments.
The Allen Macy Dulles '51 Award was presented to Bernice Fokum of Springfield, Illinois. The award is given to a senior whose activities while at Princeton best represent or exemplify the University's informal motto, "Princeton in the nation's service and in the service of all nations." Fokum, an anthropology major earning a certificate in global health and health policy, was an assistant residential college adviser in Butler College. She was a Community Action trip leader and served as secretary of the Princeton Association of Black Women. She was treasurer of the Princeton Student Global AIDS Campaign and is a certified HIV tester and counselor. She volunteers as a Spanish-English translator at the University Medical Center of Princeton at Plainsboro, and also is an English-as-a-second language tutor. She was a student worker captain for Campus Dining. She has spent summers interning at the Illinois Department of Public Health's Center for Minority Health Services.
Margaret Wang of Irvine, California, received the Frederick Douglass Award. The award was established in 1969, at the recommendation of then-assistant dean of the college Carl Fields, to recognize a senior who has exhibited courage, leadership, intellectual achievement and a willingness to contribute unselfishly toward a deeper understanding of racial minorities and who, in doing so, reflects the tradition of service at Princeton. Wang is an East Asian studies major earning a certificate in the Program in Teacher Preparation. She served as president and coordinator of the Princeton University Mentoring Program and was a student fellow at the Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding. She was president of the Chinese Students Association as well as a member of the Asian American Students Association and the Asian American Studies Committee. She received a fellowship from the national Mellon Mays Foundation to conduct an independent research project while an undergraduate. She spent a summer in Tokyo interning at Ashinaga, a nonprofit organization that provides financial and emotional support for orphans and refugees. She also was a coordinator for the Yale University student organization Building Bridges, traveling to China over a summer to teach children in developing rural areas.
The Harold Willis Dodds Prize was presented to Robert "Trap" Yates of Sutton, Massachusetts. The award recognizes the senior who best embodies the qualities of Princeton's 15th president, Harold Dodds, "particularly in the qualities of clear thinking, moral courage, a patient and judicious regard for the opinions of others, and a thoroughgoing devotion to the welfare of the University and to the life of the mind." Yates is a history major earning a certificate in urban studies. He has received the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence and the George B. Wood Legacy Sophomore Prize. Yates was a residential college adviser in Wilson College and a staff writer for the Daily Princetonian. He has been involved in activities through the Pace Center for Civic Engagement, including manager of the student group Princeton Business Volunteers and captain of the Pace Center Street Team. He also served as campus community affairs chair for the Undergraduate Student Government.
The W. Sanderson Detwiler 1903 Prize was given to Kosaluchi Nwokeneche-Mmegwa of Burlington, Ontario, Canada. The award is given to the senior who, in the judgment of the student's classmates, has done the most for the class. Nwokeneche-Mmegwa is a major in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and is earning a certificate in African American studies. He was president of the Class of 2014 for four years. He has served on the Honor Committee and was chair of the committee this past year. He also was a mentor through the Princeton University Mentorship Program.
Benedict Wagstaff of Washington, D.C., received the Class of 1901 Medal. The medal recognizes the senior, who in the judgment of the student's classmates, has done the most for Princeton. Wagstaff is a Woodrow Wilson School major earning a certificate in Italian language and culture. As a member of the Undergraduate Student Government, Wagstaff helped plan campus-wide events as social chair and worked with student groups as student groups chair. He established the student Coffee Chat Program and co-founded the Princeton Development Lab, which aims to promote student engagement with international development. He was an officer at Tower Club and a member of the Chapel Choir and Polo Club.
Lucie Wright, of Dover, Massachusetts, received the Priscilla Glickman '92 Memorial Prize, which honors "independence and imagination in the area of service." A major in the Woodrow Wilson School, Wright is a member of Students for Education Reform and served as coordinator of the group's mentoring and leadership program. She served on the Pace Center's Council for Civic Values and helped organize the center's Reflections on Service event. She was co-coordinator of the Student Volunteers Council's tutoring program at Foundation Academy Charter School in Trenton and volunteered as a tutor with the Petey Greene Prisoner Assistance Program. Wright also was president of the Princeton Committee on Palestine, a member of the Princeton Bhangra dance group and a member of Princeton United Left.
Athletics Awards
The Class of 1916 Cup was given to Randi Brown of Grand Rapids, Michigan, and Rachel Zambrowicz of Woodlands, Texas. The award, which was given by the Class of 1916 on the occasion of its 50th reunion, is presented to the senior varsity letter winner with the highest academic standing. Brown, an ecology and evolutionary biology major, is a member of the women's swimming and diving team. She helped Princeton win two Ivy League championships during her career. She reached three individual diving finals, and had a career-best finish of third at the 2012 championships. Zambrowicz also is an ecology and evolutionary biology major and is a member of the women's swimming and diving team. As a member of the diving squad, she also helped Princeton win two Ivy League championships. She earned the Career High Point Diver Award at the 2014 championships and the Ivy League championships Diver of the Meet honor in 2011. She has earned first-, second- and third-place championship finishes throughout her career.
The William Winston Roper Trophy goes to "a male senior of high scholastic rank and outstanding qualities of sportsmanship and general proficiency in athletics." The award was shared this year by Tom Hopkins of the track and field team; Alec Keller of the baseball team; Damon McLean of the track and field team; Caraun Reid of the football team; and Tom Schreiber of the lacrosse team. Hopkins, a politics major from Haverford, Pennsylvania, competed in sprints, relays and long jumps. He competed in two NCAA championships, earned two All-America honors and qualified for the NCAA East Regional finals in each of his four years. He won the distance medley relay at the Penn Relays in 2012. Hopkins also is a six-time Ivy League indoor heptathlon champion. Keller, a politics major from Richmond, Virginia, became the second Princeton baseball player to be named Ivy League Player of the Year. He also was a three-time, first-team All-Ivy League selection. McLean, a chemistry major from St. Catherine's, Jamaica, is a two-time All-America in the triple jump and won four straight triple jump titles in the Ivy League indoor heptathlon. He won the Most Outstanding Field Performer Award at the 2013 heptathlon event, and was named the Regional Field Athlete of the Year that same season. McLean also won the outdoor triple jump three times. Reid, a sociology major from the Bronx, New York, earned first-team All-America honors this football season and was the second Princeton player to be invited to the national Senior Bowl. Reid helped push Princeton football to a record-breaking season and the 2013 Ivy League championship. His dominant defensive career earned him a spot in the fifth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. Schreiber, a history major from East Meadow, New York, is a three-time, first-team All-America and four-time, first-team All Ivy League player. He also is a two-time winner of the national lacrosse Midfielder of the Year Award and was the No. 1 selection of the 2014 Major League Lacrosse draft. Schreiber ranks fifth in all-time scoring in Princeton lacrosse history and won the NCAA's Senior Class Award for outstanding achievement in the areas of competition, the classroom, community and character.
The C. Otto von Kienbusch Award, which recognizes the top senior sportswomen at Princeton, was shared by Lisa Boyce of the swimming and diving team; Michelle Cesan of the field hockey team; Julia Reinprecht of the field hockey team; Susannah Scanlan of the fencing team; and Kelly Shon of the golf team. Boyce, an English major from Champaign, Illinois, led Princeton to a pair of Ivy League team championships in swimming and diving, and also won nine individual Ivy League swimming events. She was named the 2014 Ivy League championships Career High Point Scorer and competed at the 2014 NCAA Championship event. She also earned first-team All-America honors. Cesan, a politics major from New Vernon, New Jersey, was a member of Princeton field hockey's 2012 NCAA Championship team. She is a four-time, first-team All-Ivy League selection and a four-time All-America selection. Cesan is one of the field hockey team's greatest scorers and was the 2013 Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year. Reinprecht, a politics major from Perkasie, Pennsylvania, is a member of the U.S. field hockey team and competed at the 2012 Olympics in London. Reinprecht also was part of Princeton's 2012 NCAA championship team. She was a four-time All-America selection, a four-time All-Region selection and a four-time, first-team All-Ivy pick. She was named Ivy League Defensive Player of the Year and Ivy League Rookie of the Year. Scanlan, an economics major from St. Paul, Minnesota, won a bronze medal at the 2012 Olympics in London with the U.S. women's epee fencing team. At Princeton, she helped the fencing team compete in the NCAA championships and she finished runner-up in the women's epee event in 2013. She is a two-time, first-team All-Ivy League honoree and a four-time All-America selection. Shon, a sociology major from Port Washington, New York, is a two-time Ivy League Player of the Year and four-time All-Ivy League honoree. She has competed at the NCAA Championship for women's golf and was runner-up at the 2013 East Regional finals.
The Arthur Lane '34 Award honors selfless contribution to sport and society by an undergraduate athlete. This year's winners are: Jack Berger of the men's hockey team; Sarah Lloyd of the women's lacrosse team; Christina Maida of the field hockey team; Diane Metcalf-Leggette of the women’s soccer team; and Tom Schreiber of the men's lacrosse team. Berger, an economics major from St. Louis, was a two-year captain of the hockey team and was Princeton's representative for the Eastern College Athletic Conference Hockey Student-Athlete of the Year honor. He served as vice president of the Varsity Student-Athlete Advisory Committee. Berger also volunteered with the Hockey Players 4 Kids organization, which coordinates a reading program at a local elementary school and assists with youth hockey practices. As a member of the Princeton hockey team, he has hosted the Mercer Bulldogs Special Hockey, a team of autistic children; participated in the Department of Athletics' Weapons of Mass Construction day of service project; and worked with Teams for Toys to collect and distribute toys for kids. He also has volunteered at the Center for Survivors of Torture and War Trauma in St. Louis. Lloyd, a psychology major from Severna Park, Maryland, was named the Ivy League Midfielder of the Year for women's lacrosse. She has worked with the Best Buddies program for children and young adults with special needs, and plans to be a coach for the Special Olympics in softball and swimming this summer. She was a tutor at the Princeton Public Library for middle school students, and has been actively involved with athletic volunteer events, including Step Ahead, the Mercer County Food Bank and Reading with Tigers. Lloyd spent a summer in Ghana with a program called Hands on Healthcare and has been involved with Tropical Clinics for Rural Health, an organization that raises money to build local hospitals and clinics in rural Kenya. Maida, an anthropology major from Doylestown, Pennsylvania, is an All-America field hockey player. She has received a grant from U.S. field hockey's "You Go Girl" program, which supports college teams to teach field hockey and serve as mentors to young girls. Maida also has volunteered with reading programs for elementary school students. As part of the field hockey team, she has mentored a girl with Down syndrome who has pediatric brain tumors. Metcalf-Leggette, an anthropology major from Centreville, Virginia, is a two-time All-Ivy League women's soccer player who helped the team compete in the second round of the NCAA tournament her junior year. She is treasurer of the nonprofit organization Goals Beyond The Net, which looks to combine athletics with educational opportunities in Jacmel, Haiti. She also helped develop the Jacmel United Football Club for children living in extreme poverty. Schreiber, a history major from East Meadow, New York, is a three-time, first-team All-America and four-time, first-team All Ivy League player. He also is a two-time winner of the national lacrosse Midfielder of the Year Award and was the No. 1 selection of the 2014 Major League Lacrosse draft. He was recently given the Senior Class Award, which recognizes one senior athlete in several NCAA sports for their outstanding achievement in the areas of competition, the classroom, character and community. He has been involved with Fields of Growth, an organization that uses lacrosse to stimulate educational and economic advancement. Schreiber has traveled to Costa Rica and to Uganda, where he worked with Ugandan national lacrosse team, for which he will serve as an assistant coach at the 2014 World Championships in Denver. While in Uganda, he also worked to build schools, create economic development projects and promote educational initiatives. He also has worked closer to home with the Trenton Bridge Program and other youth programs as a mentor and lacrosse coach.
Honorary class members
The Class of 2014 recognized the following people as honorary class members during the Class Day ceremony: John Barbour Jr., a sergeant with the Department of Public Safety; Cynthia Cherrey, Vice President for Campus Life; former U.S. Vice President Al Gore, Class Day speaker; Dov Grohsgal, a lecturer in history and the Princeton Writing Program; and Joy Roberts, a kosher cook with Campus Dining.
The following individuals also have been named honorary class members during other events on campus: Gabriel Crouch, a senior lecturer in music and associate director of the Program in Musical Performance; John Luria, director of the Bridge Year Program; and Ailsa Leen, an exchange student at Princeton.
