Seniors receive awards at Class Day ceremony

This article is an online exclusive. The Daily Princetonian will resume regular publication on Sept. 15. Visit the website throughout the summer for updates.

Several members of the Class of 2011 were honored at Monday’s Class Day ceremony for their academic, athletic and leadership qualities exhibited during their time at the University.

Elizabeth Borges ’11 was awarded the Harold Willis Dodds Prize, which recognizes the senior who best represents the legacy of Dodds, the University’s 15th president, through “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."

Borges, who earned a degree in psychology and a certificate in American studies, is the former co-chair of the Alcohol Coalition Committee and a leader in the campus LGBT community. She has served as a moderator in the Sustained Dialogue since her freshman year.

Benjamin Oseroff ’11 received the Allen Macy Dulles ’51 Award, which is presented to the senior who has best embodied the University’s unofficial motto of “Princeton in the nation’s service and in the service of all nations” during their time as an undergraduate.

Oseroff, who majored in Near Eastern studies and earned a certificate in creative writing, was an Outdoor Action leader and the co-founder and president of The Roundtable, a student group that organized discussions on ethics and morality. He tutored prisoners as a member of the Petey Greene Prisoner Assistance Program and participated in a research project on solving problems posed by infectious diseases.

Oseroff was also the recipient of the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence in his sophomore year.

The Priscilla Glickman ’92 Memorial Prize, honoring “independence and imagination in the area of service,” was given to Wilson School major Bryan Locascio ’11. Locascio served as a trip leader and student trip coordinator for the Pace Center’s Breakout Princeton civic action trips and was also a participant in the Petey Greene Prisoner Assistance Program. While studying abroad in Bolivia, he helped to found the Santa Cruz de la Sierra Youth Orchestra’s first brass quintet.

The Frederick Douglass Award was given to Margaret Harris ’11. The award, established in 1969 by the Association of Black Collegians, is presented to “a senior who has exhibited courage, leadership, intellectual achievement, and a willingness to contribute unselfishly toward a deeper understanding of racial minorities,” according to the University statement.

Harris, who earned a degree in English and a certificate in African American studies, served as coordinator of the Princeton University Mentoring Program and the Leadership and Mentoring Program and was a member of the Princeton Association of Black Women, the Black Student Union, Princeton Faith and Action, the Hallelujah! Worship committee, the Gospel Ensemble and the High Steppers.

Class of 2011 president Alex Rosen ’11 won the W. Sanderson Detwiler 1903 Prize and the Class of 1901 Medal, both of the awards presented to a graduating senior by the members of their class. The Detwiler Prize is given to the student who has done the most for the class while 1901 Medal honors the student who has done the most for the University.

Rosen, an economics major who earned certificates in finance and global health and health policy, served as Class of 2011 president for four years. He was the chair of Honor Committee, a member of the governance committee for the Council of the Princeton University Community, a voting representative on the Trustee Committee on Honorary Degrees, a member of the executive committee for the Princeton Premedical Society and a member of Business Today. Rosen also served as a residential college adviser for Whitman College.

Get the best of the ‘Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Rosen is also the co-winner of the Moses Taylor Pyne Honor Prize, the highest general distinction that can be conferred on an undergraduate.

Several athletic awards were also presented. Robert Marsland ’11 received the Class of 1916 Cup, given to the senior varsity letter winner who has earned the best academic standing. A physics major and member of the sprint football team, Marsland was selected as a second-team All-Collegiate sprint football league defensive lineman.

The Arthur Lane ’34 award, recognizing selfless contribution to a team and society, was presented to four seniors: Peter Callahan ’11, a politics major and member of the men’s soccer team, Jennifer King ’11, a computer science major and information technology and society certificate recipient and field hockey team member, John Stogin ’11, a mathematics major and member of the men’s fencing team, and Lauren Sykora ’11, a mechanical and aerospace engineering major on the women’s lightweight rowing team.

The William Winston Roper Trophy, which recognizes male senior athletes “of high scholastic rank and outstanding qualities of sportsmanship and general proficiency in atheletics,” was awarded to molecular biology major Mark Amirault ’11, mechanical and aerospace engineering major Taylor Fedun ’11, English major Kareem Maddox ’11, economics major Robin Prendes ’11 and sociology major Josh Walburn ’11. Amirault was a member of the men’s cross country and track and field teams, Fedun was a member of the men’s hockey team, Maddox was a member of the men’s basketball team, Prendes was a member of the men’s lightweight crew team and Walburn was a member of the men’s soccer team.

Five female athletes received the C. Otto von Kienbusch Award, which recognizes the top senior women on University sports teams: economics major Sarah Cummings ’11 and politics major Ashley Higginson ’11, both members of the cross country and track and field teams, Addie Micir ’11, a psychology major and member of the women’s basketball team, Megan Waters ’11, a politics major and member of the women’s swimming and diving team, and Lauren Wilkinson ’11, a ecology and evolutionary biology major and rower with the women’s open crew.

The Princeton Varsity Club Special Award of Valor was presented this year as a special honor to Jordan Culbreath ’11, a two-time All-Ivy running back on the football team who was forced to withdraw from the University in October 2009 while battling against aplastic anemia. A mechanical and aerospace engineering major, Culbreath returned for that year’s spring semester and rejoined the team this fall before his career was ended by a torn knee ligament. Culbreath was also the recent recipient of the Rare Disease Champion Award, presented by the organization Uplifting Atheletes to a member of the college football world who has positively impacted those fighting rare diseases.

In addition to Class Day speaker Brooke Shields ’87, the Class of 2011 named the following individuals honorary members of the graduating class during Monday’s ceremony: Building Services supervisor Tony Cifelli, English professor and Rockefeller College master Jeff Nunokawa, departing associate dean of religious life Paul Raushenbush and visiting lecturer with the rank of professor in electrical engineering Ed Zschau ’61.

At previous events, the Class of 2011 has also recognized the following members of the University community as honorary members of the class: assistant director of the Center for Jewish Life Marni Blitz, Pace Center Director Beth Jamieson, Aquinas Institute Director Thomas Mullelly, art and archaeology professor and director of the P.Y. and Kinmay W. Tang Center for East Asian Art Jerome Silbergeld, organic chemistry professor Erik Sorensen and former associate director of Richardson Auditorium Delia Vayansky.