Honors Convocation celebrates student achievement, curiosity, and character
Honors Convocation, a Skidmore tradition for more than six decades, brought the Skidmore community together
once again to recognize students’ exceptional academic achievements, leadership, service,
and creativity.
“We are extraordinarily proud of the accomplishments of all our students, and it is
heartening also to celebrate the faculty who helped shape their intellectual curiosity
and academic pursuits,” Dorothy Mosby, dean of the faculty and vice president for
academic affairs, said of the event. This year’s ceremony was held May 1 on the second
floor of Murray-Aikins Dining Hall.
Dorothy Mosby, dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs, delivered remarks to open this year's ceremony.
A special element of the tradition are the personalized statements that faculty prepare
about each award recipient, describing each student’s academic accomplishments and
distinguishing qualities.
Faculty, staff, friends, and family share in the celebration, which recognizes the
whole student and the people who encourage and support them.
Here’s a look at , by the numbers:
32 national merit scholarship and fellowship honorees were recognized. Christopher Bentley
Arnold III ’24 and Chloe Elizabeth Hanrahan ’24 are the recipients of Fulbright Scholarships,
Heba Salman ’25 and Natasha Ana Wozniak ’25 are the recipients of Goldwater Scholarships,
and Rebecca Kate Banner ’23, Jonah Silberman Brenner ’20, Allison Taylor Hands ’19,
Abigail Grace Monahan ’23, and Britney Philomena Smart ’16 are recipients of National
Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowships. Vicky Grijalva ’24 is the recipient of a National Association of Student Personnel Administrators Undergraduate
Fellowship, and Willa Faye Flink ’24 is the recipient of an Obama-Chesky Scholarship for Public Service. Twenty-one students
were semi-finalists, nominees, alternates, or earned honorable mentions for these
awards.
8 department and program prizes and opportunity awards were given to a total of 17
students. These awards are given for papers, competitions, field and laboratory research,
artistic projects, and other creative endeavors, and they build on close faculty-student
collaborative work.
72 academic awards and prizes were bestowed across all disciplines, from ceramics to
computer science, economics to world languages, and everything in between.
31 senior class members of the National Honor Society of Phi Beta Kappa were acknowledged.
The society exists to encourage and recognize outstanding achievements in liberal
arts education, and Skidmore was granted a charter in 1970.
47 senior class members of the Periclean Honors Forum were acknowledged. Through honors-designated
courses, planned co-curricular activities, and participation in community service,
the forum strengthens intellectual life at Skidmore and provides positive leadership
on and off campus.
317 memberships in national and international honor societies for specific areas of study,
from the National Honor Society in Physics to the International Honor Society in History,
were recognized.
