On Monday morning, we gathered in the Wilkins Meeting House to recognize underclass award recipients for their work this year in the classroom and the arts studios. The list below reflects accomplishment across academic and artistic disciplines, but names on a page cannot capture the hours, revisions, setbacks, and persistence behind each honor. Awards mark an outcome, but they do not show the process that made such a result possible.
A week ago, Science Department veteran Buz Morison offered a crash course on the neuroscience of learning during Assembly. His central distinction sharpens how we think about recognition. There is a difference between knowledge a student acquires and the capacity they build over time. Knowledge can be gained quickly through cramming for an assessment, though it is often short-lived. Capacity is “wired” slowly, through struggle, repeated practice, reflection, and risk-taking.
As Buz emphasized, teenagers sit inside a narrow developmental window when the frontal cortex – the brain’s seat of reasoning and judgment – is still open and forming. The students recognized this morning are in the middle of this important work. And so are their classmates – in their daily work in Learning Skills, peer tutoring sessions in Lovejoy Library, extra-help meetings with faculty, and their solo work in dorm rooms or at the kitchen table in the evenings. To each student not named below: we see your work, too. As Dean of Teaching and Learning Derek Nussbaum Wagler shared in opening today’s assembly, “Some will be recognized, many will not, and all of you should be proud of the year you’ve had.”
Buz closed his presentation with this line: “We have faculty here who really care about you becoming the best possible graduate you can be, and we have students who are just amazingly motivated and interesting.” And our work of learning together continues. Congratulations to the students recognized during Monday’s assembly!
Underclass Awards | 2025-2026
Frederick W. Johnson '56 Memorial Award | Talia Hardie ‘27
Harvard Book Prize | Kenzie Blizzard ‘27
Arts Department
Distinction in Performing Arts – Music | Luke Stiles ‘28, Isaac Price ‘28, Fritz Griffith ‘27, Max Carton ‘29 & Kenzie Blizzard ‘27
Distinction in Performing Arts – Theater | Penny Mathison ‘27, Brennan Dunklee ‘27, Will Sommer ‘27, Leo Jones ‘29 & Rory DeVore ‘29
Distinction in Visual Arts | Levi Silverstein ‘27, Danny Joseph ‘28, Hazel Kane ‘27, ST Cheng ’27 & Silja Warzecha ‘27
Distinction in Industrial Arts | Camden Allenby ‘27, Max Sowles ‘27 & Logan Hallam ‘29
History Department
Connie Appel Distinction in World History | Louise Dickson ‘29 & Ali Nichols ‘29
Connie Appel Distinction in US History | Ada Grotnes ‘28
Connie Appel Distinction in History Electives | Miles Sobky ‘27
Allan S. Bursaw '67 Award for Excellence in Economics | Teddy Wong ‘27
English Department
Distinction in English for Class of 2027 | Sonoma Wong ‘27, Teddy Wong ‘27, Lila Jarrett ‘27, Holden Buchbinder ‘27, Emmanuel Fosu ‘27 & Emily Alexander ‘27
Distinction in English for Class of 2028 | Willa Walton ‘28, Val Parker ‘28, Nicole Wong ‘28, Danny Joseph ‘28 & Abbie Vlacich ‘28
Distinction in English for Class of 2029 | Molly Stone ‘29 & Chase Beckman ‘29
Hollins Prize for Creative Writing | Hazel Kane ‘27
Science Department
Distinction in Science for Class of 2027 | Bode Dodge ‘27, Camden Allenby ‘27 & Sonoma Wong ‘27
Distinction in Science for Class of 2028 | Poppy Shor ‘28 & Ada Grotnes ‘28
Distinction in Science for Class of 2029 | Louise Dickson ‘29, Alex Hanowell ‘29 & Finn Jones ‘29
Actions Speak Louder Than Words Award | Hazel Kane ‘27
Science & Math
Rensselaer Medal | Sophie Molnar ‘27
Math Department
Distinction in Math for Class of 2027 | Bode Dodge ‘27 & Hazel Kane ‘27
Distinction in Math for Class of 2028 | Daniel Joseph ‘28 & Jaralese Torres ‘28
Distinction in Math for Class of 2029 | Finn Jones ‘29 & Maria Kaloutas ‘29
World Language Department
Distinction in World Language – French | Emily Alexander ‘27 & Silja Warzecha ‘27
Distinction in World Language – Mandarin | Sonoma Wong ‘27 & Teddy Wong ‘27
Distinction in World Language – Spanish | Holden Buchbinder ‘27, Bode Dodge ‘27, Teddy Wong ‘27, Gus Didier ‘27 & Elliot Irwin-Pokorny ‘27
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