More than 200 members of the Class of 2020 have received academic or service awards,
adding their contributions to the rich legacy of Pomona College.
Today we will be announcing the awards that are traditionally announced live during Commencement
Weekend.
A complete list of winners will be posted online.
While the manner in which we present the senior awards has changed this year, the excellence
that it recognizes in all of you graduates has not.
These are, as you have heard time and again, unprecedented times.
You are also unprecedented.
While you have all graduated from the same college, had the same rigorous education,
and while the same awards are given year to year, each one of you has a unique experience
and journey.
Each one of you has grown and accomplished a great deal in very different ways.
Academic awards recipients are being recognized for their distinction in achievement.
The Blair Nixon Memorial Award is for students who exemplify the high ideals of the College
in scholarship, sportsmanship, and organized athletic pursuits.
This year the award goes to George William Abele Jr. and Victoria Marie Ayisibea Addo-Ashong.The
John Stauffer Prize for Academic Merit in the Sciences is awarded to students majoring
in physics, chemistry, or a related science, who exhibit the highest academic promise.
The recipients this year are Christina Renee Beck, Elise Anne C. Koskelo and Brendan Nathaniel
Terry.
Finally, the Rena Gurley Archibald High Scholarship Prize is awarded to the student with the highest
grade point average.
The award this year goes to Alexandra Ann Barber.
Congratulations!
A Pomona education is not solely academic.
It is also not solely for you as an individual student.
As inscribed on our gates, our mission is to “bear our added riches in trust for humankind.”
Service and leadership, whether demonstrated at the College or in the wider community,
are what make for the best and truest education.
We not only want good heads; we want good hearts.
That’s not just our desire as an institution, that’s the need of the world and the need
of the hour.
The recipients of this year’s service and leadership awards are extraordinary for their
work on behalf of others.
The Ada May Fitts Award is for a woman with high academic achievement, research or writing
as well as activity in leadership positions, efforts in advocacy or community building
at Pomona College.
The award this year goes to Rachel Akemi Oda.
The Bernard Charnwut Chan Award goes to three students all displaying strong academic performance
and giving to the College through extracurricular activity.
One student is from an underrepresented group, the second award is given to a senior student
from an underrepresented group entering graduate school in the fall, and the third award is
given to an international student.
The awards this year go to Tarini Nailesh Gandhi, Katheryn Renee Kornegay and René
J. Valenzuela.
The Ted Gleason Award is given annually to a graduating senior who has demonstrated tangible
ways of supporting others and contributing to community life at the College.
They will have demonstrated sympathy, friendliness, good cheer, generosity and particularly perseverance
and courage through challenges such as illness, difficult family circumstances or other life-changing
experiences.
The awards go to Niles M. Brooks, Khadijah T. Thibodeaux and Sabrina Marie Vera.
The Senior Service Awards are for those who have shown leadership in social, political
and humanistic endeavors.
The awards go to Evan Darnell Coburn, Isaac Qi Cui, Miguel A. Delgado-Garcia, Jordan Faith
Grimaldi, Olivia Genevieve Irwin, Jeffrey Jen, Lemuel Lan, Nghiem H. Nguyen, Cristal
del Carmen Quiñones Gonzales, Alfredo Reyes-Guzman and Ngoc Kim Tran.
The Sheri Sangji Memorial International Senior Service Award is given to an international
member of the graduating class who has contributed significantly to the life of the College through
intellect and leadership, both in international programs and a range of co-curricular activities.
The winner this year is Hans Yuxin Zhou.
Congratulations to all the winners.
You have worked hard on your academics.
You have stood strong as leaders.
You have put others before yourself through your commitment to service.
You have shown grit and grace throughout life’s tests and trials.
Congratulations, Class of 2020!
We are proud of you.
Be proud of yourself.
You have done great things.
We are confident you will do even greater things in the days and years to come.
Congratulations, Class of 2020!