The Pyne Prize is awarded to the senior(s) who most clearly displays excellent academic achievement, leadership skills and strength of character.
The recipients were selected by Dean of the College Nancy Malkiel, Dean of Undergraduate Students Kathleen Deignan, President Tilghman and Vice President and Secretary Bob Durkee ’69 based on faculty recommendations at a meeting on Feb. 7, Malkiel said in an e-mail.
Malkiel said it was “simply a coincidence” that both Pyne Prize winners were recently granted other prestigious honors. Vander Ploeg is a Marshall Scholar and Stankievech a Rhodes Scholar.
“The fact that Vander Ploeg and Stankievech had won those fellowships was not germane to our decision,” Tilghman said in an e-mail. She added that “it is perhaps not entirely surprising, as the criteria for the Pyne Prize and those scholarships are very similar.”
Stankievech, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major from Canada, has worked on projects during his time at the University including a furniture-moving robot, a two-stage rocket and a hypersonic jet.
Stankievech combines a penchant for philosophy with his engineering background and said in an e-mail that many of the skills required for engineering “transfer pretty well to philosophy.”
“I’ve always been the kind of person who likes to think about the ‘big questions,’ ” he said.
As a varsity hockey player, Stankievech has earned conference and league distinctions. He has also been involved in programs such as teaching children to skate in the Special Olympics Skating Program and has coached in the Princeton Youth Hockey Program.
“It’s been fun being a part of turning the hockey program around here,” he said.
After graduation, Stankievech will go to Oxford to pursue a second bachelor’s degree in philosophy, politics and economics. “[The program] seemed like a great course [of action] and the perfect fit for the kind of skills I wanted to continue building,” he said.
Upon hearing about the award from Malkiel and Deignan, Vander Ploeg said she was “flabbergasted.”
“I’ve done the things I love doing, and I haven’t really thought about winning an award,” Vander Ploeg, a Wilson School major and New Jersey native, said.
Vander Ploeg arrived at the University expecting to devote herself to the viola, but as she continued studying music, she realized her singing skills exceeded her abilities as a violist, “and I started to love it a lot more.”
“[Music] turned into a calling, not a choice. It was something that I had to do with my life,” she said.Outside of taking music courses, Vander Ploeg has pursued her interest by playing in the University Orchestra and singing with the chapel and chamber choirs as a soprano. She has also been involved with the Princeton University Players.
Vaner Ploeg’s academic interests are not limited to music. “I’ve also really loved politics and policies, and I really believe ... politics can really make a positive change in the world,” she said.
Her thesis focuses on music rights in South Africa and the role the arts play in the reconciliation of the country.
“Sarah embodies the combination of intellect and artistry that President Tilghman seeks to encourage on this campus, and I could not be more thrilled that the University has recognized her achievements with the Pyne Prize,” Wilson School professor Stanley Katz, Vander Ploeg’s adviser, said in an e-mail.
After graduation, Vander Ploeg will work toward her master’s degree in the vocal studies program at the Royal College in London.
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