Platt '16 named valedictorian, Kim '16 salutatorian

On Monday, Cameron Platt ’16 was named valedictorian for the Class of 2016. Esther Kim ’16 was named the Latin salutatorian.

Platt will give her valedictory address at the Commencement ceremony on May 31, and Kim, per tradition, will deliver the salutatory oration in Latin on the same day.

University faculty accepted nominations from the Faculty Committee on Examinations and Standing in a meeting on April 25.

Platt, an English concentrator with a certificate in theater, noted that she was incredibly excited and honored to be named valedictorian. She explained that she was first notified that she had been named valedictorian a week prior to the official University announcement.

According to a University press release, Platt is the former president of Princeton University Players, the only student-run musical theater company on campus. She is currently working on a show that will debut at the New York Fringe Festival, and she will soon attend the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. She is originally from Santa Barbara, Calif.

“I know I want writing to be a part of my future, so right now journalism looks interesting,” Platt said, adding that writing fiction would also be a suitable career path. “I don’t know exactly what [the future] will look like, but I have a couple of years to figure it out,” she said.

According to the release, Platt earned the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence in her sophomore year and was the co-winner of the George B. Wood Legacy Junior Prize for exceptional achievement during her junior year. She was elected to Phi Beta Kappa in the fall of 2015.

Since the spring of her freshman year, Platt has annually received an English departmental prize. Her prizes have included the Class of 1870 junior and senior sophomore prizes and the Class of 1870 Old English Prize. Platt has twice been recognized for Outstanding Work in the Program in Theater.

Platt is also a peer academic adviser in Wilson College and a member of the undergraduate advisory committee in the English department.

Kim, also an English major, said that one thing that has most defined her academic career at the University is the study of languages. During her freshman and sophomore years, she took courses in Swahili, Spanish and Latin. She also studied Hebrew while studying abroad at University College London during the fall semester of her junior year. Kim explained that she leaves campus every other weekend to be a part of Alabaster Group, a Christian organization that holds conferences between the eight Ivy League schools and MIT.

Kim is a Fulbright Fellow and will be going to South Korea next year. She hopes one day to write fiction novels. Kim noted that, for students who hope to be salutatorian, meaningful goals should be set.

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“Focus on the things that excite your heart, and just do those things fully, and who knows what will come out of that,” she said. “Find meaning in the things that you’re doing.”

According to the press release, after her time teaching English in Korea as a Fulbright Fellow next year, Kim plans to pursue an MFA in creative writing at Florida State University.

Platt said that students should be sure to pursue actions that motivate them.

“Really do what you want to do, and do the things that make you feel energized and passionate every day, because work is hard,” Platt said. She added that students should continue to prioritize their health and their friends along with their studies.