Honors Convocation celebrates members of the senior class as creative, accomplished individuals
Faculty, staff, friends, and family came together to recognize members of Skidmore’s Class of 2026, as well as other students and alumni, at this year’s Honors Convocation — a longstanding College tradition celebrating achievement in academics, leadership, service, and creativity.
The annual ceremony is especially meaningful for its personal touches and its focus on the whole student. Faculty members write individual statements for award recipients, honoring not only their achievements but also their character.
Barbara Black, professor of English and the Tisch Chair in Arts and Letters, presents the Jesse Solomon Memorial Award to Aarjun Shodhan ’26.
Natalie Taylor, interim dean of the faculty and vice president for academic affairs, and President Marc Conner delivered remarks, and Barbara Black, professor of English and the Tisch Chair in Arts and Letters; Pushkala Prasad, Zankel Professor of Management for Liberal Arts Students; and Patricia Fehling, professor of Health and Human Physiological Sciences, presented this year’s academic awards.
“It is always wonderful to celebrate the amazing work that our students have been doing under the direction of our smart, dedicated faculty,” says Taylor.
This year’s event opened with a performance by pianist Daniel Huh ’26 of Concert Etude, Op. 40 No. 1 “Prelude” by Nikolai Kapustin, followed by a performance of Handel’s “M’ai resa infelice” by Huh and soprano Naomi Wagner ’26.
Daniel Huh ’26, recipient of the Louis Edgar Johns Award (music), and Naomi Wagner ’26, recipient of the Barbara Gruntal Allen ’35 Prize (music), perform.
To close, Wagner and soprano Ellie Ushakov ’26 led the singing of the alma mater.
Here’s a look at this year’s honors, by the numbers:
18 national merit scholarship and fellowship honorees were recognized. Jakob William Shonbrun-Siege ’24 was the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship; Elise F. Hinrichs ’28 was the recipient of a Goldwater Scholarship; and Cormac Feeley ’25, Claire N. Rubin ’25, and Cecily Szady ’22 were named National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellows. Seven students were semi-finalists or nominees for Fulbright Scholarships; and six students were nominated or received honorable mentions for the Boren Scholarship, Gaither Junior Fellows Program, Marshall Scholarship, and Rhodes Scholarship.
7 department and program prizes and opportunity awards were given to a total of 10 students. These awards are given for papers, competitions, field and laboratory research, experiences abroad, artistic projects, and other creative endeavors, and they build on close faculty-student collaborative work.
73 academic awards and prizes were bestowed across all areas, from the Education Studies Senior Award to the Theater Prize and many disciplines in between.
Aminah Hopewell ’26 shakes hands with President Marc Conner as she receives the Margaret Paulding Award in Dance.
29 senior class members of the Periclean Honors Forum were acknowledged. Through honors-designated courses, planned co-curricular activities, and participation in community service, the forum strengthens intellectual life at Skidmore and provides positive leadership on and off campus.
325 memberships in national and international honor societies for specific areas of study — from the International Honor Society in Economics to the National Honor Society in Psychology — were recognized.
