The Tufts University Alumni Association held the 2021 Senior Awards ceremony on April 10, virtually honoring 12 graduating seniors from the Schools of Arts and Sciences and Engineering and the School of the Museum of Fine Arts for their academic achievement, leadership and participation in campus and community activities.
Joda Glossner, associate director of council management and awards for the Office of Alumni Engagement, and Jennifer Covell, TUAA president, explained the history of the awards and what they stand for.
“Each year since 1955, the Tufts University Alumni Association … has sponsored the Senior Awards Ceremony," they wrote. "The TUAA recognizes six to 12 members of the Senior Class for outstanding academic achievement (3.0+ GPA), campus and community participation, and leadership. This event is one of the highlights of the year for the TUAA, as it provides an opportunity for us to celebrate the accomplishments of the award recipients, who inspire us with their stories."
Prior to the pandemic, the Senior Awards ceremony was held at the Gifford House and followed by a catered reception, but this year it took a virtual format.
This year’s ceremony was conducted via YouTube Live. University President Anthony Monaco spoke briefly and the chairs of the Awards Committee presented each nominee, according to Covell. Each nominee provided brief remarks after being awarded.
Peter Bronk, co-chair of the Awards Committee for the Alumni Council, explained how the awardees are selected each year.
"The biographic material and recommendations for every candidate are circulated to all members of the Awards Committee," Bronk wrote in an email to the Daily. "Each member evaluates the nominees for the awards criteria ... and generates a limited list of highly qualified nominees. When the Committee meets, we compare our lists, discuss the attributes of candidates, and create the final list of award recipients."
Peter Brodeur, co-chair alongside Bronk, expanded on this. He said there were 67 nominees for the awards this year.
“This is a labor-intensive process because all 15 committee members carefully read and consider all nominees," Brodeur wrote in an email to the Daily. "The work is really measured in days for each committee member to learn about each student and to be prepared for the committee’s discussions during the selection process. In the end, we can select up to 12 nominees from an amazing pool of accomplished and inspiring students."
The 2021 Senior Awards honorees were Mateo Gomez, Subin Jeong, Isabella Kiser, Alex Lein, Daniel Ndirangu, Vy Bao Ngetich, Maame Opare-Addo, Thomas Risoleo, Ivette Rodriguez Borja, Saherish Surani, Emily Taketa and Sarah Wiener.
Mateo Gomez studied environmental engineering and engineering management. He was a part of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Indigenous Peoples’ Day Planning Committee, and was a peer leader for the Leadership for Social Change pre-college program and the 1+4 Bridge Year program. Gomez co-taught a Civic Pathways first-year course through Tisch College, and he has researched extensively throughout his time at Tufts, most recently exploring the intersection between environmental health and COVID-19.
Subin Jeong majored in community health and Spanish culture. She conducted biomedical engineering research in the Kaplan Lab and is the head captain of the varsity women’s fencing team. She also volunteered at Y2Y Youth Homeless Shelter and worked with Newton Neighbors Helping Neighbors and ACTION Dental Clinic. She will be attending the Harvard School of Dental Medicine after graduation.
Isabella Kiser is graduating with a combined degree from Tufts and the SMFA majoring in environmental studies and studio art. She founded Teen Artists’ Creative Oasis, took part in a think tank for the National Youth Art Movement Against Gun Violence and worked for the Massachusetts Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. She also worked for the Office of Sustainability at Tufts and hopes to design sustainable cities in the future to combine her interests in environmental studies, urban studies and art.
Alex Lein created his own interdisciplinary major that combines education, sociology and psychology. He was also an English minor. Lein has volunteered with Let’s Get Ready in Somerville High School as well as served in various roles on the Tufts Community Union Senate. He has also been the president of the Leonard Carmichael Society and a student coordinator of the Tufts University Prison Initiative of Tisch College and the Tufts Educational Re-Entry Network, and he worked with Tisch College to create The Tisch Student COVID Response Summer Fellowship amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lein reflected on his on-campus involvement.
"So much of what I have learned here has come from all of you and has taught me to learn beyond here - it’s about focusing on the missions, rather than just the jobs, putting words into action, and seeing the importance of showing up - for each other and other members of our community," Lein wrote in an email to the Daily.
Daniel Ndirangu studied economics and international relations. At Tufts, Ndirangu was a Synaptic Scholar and was on the executive boards of the Middle East Research Group and African Students’ Organization, as well as a member of TAMID Group. He was a research assistant to associate professor of political science Pearl Robinson beginning his first year and was working on a senior honors thesis on the permanence of the idea of integration in East Africa.
He explained what receiving this award means to him.
"Receiving this award is deeply humbling to me," Ndirangu wrote in an email to the Daily. "I felt empowered and seen more than anything else. That a kid from Kenya could come to this institution and have the honor to receive this award is a huge testament to what underrepresented minorities could achieve if given the opportunity, here at Tufts, and out there in the world."
After graduation, he will pursue a Master of Arts in Law and Diplomacy at The Fletcher School.
Vy Bao Ngetich studied economics and is focused on working to improve minority representation in finance and business. Ngetich participated in the Tufts Cheerleading Club and the Tufts Financial Group, and she interned at Wells Fargo on the equities trading floor and represented Tufts in the Boston Federal Reserve Challenge in 2019 and 2020.
Ngetich spoke to the significance of the award.
"Honestly, receiving the 2021 Senior Award means the world to me and my family," Ngetich wrote in an email to the Daily. "My mom and I came to the US in 2013 with literally nothing. We have been through homelessness, food insecurity and racial discrimination along this journey as poor immigrants. My mom never went to college or high school and she doesn't even speak English. So me being the first in my family to attend and graduate college in the US is our American Dream coming true."
Maame Opare-Addo studied biopsychology on the pre-med track. She co-coordinated Students’ Quest for Unity in the African Diaspora, a pre-orientation program, and worked with the FIRST Resource Center to organize virtual study groups for the spring 2020 finals season. She was a mentor for Strong Women, Strong Girls, co-president of the Minority Association of Pre-Health Students and a chemistry tutor for the Student Accessibility and Academic Resources Center.
Opare-Addo spoke about the difficulty around lack of representation and her ambitions for the future.
"As a black woman in science with dreams to enter a career field (medicine) in which women like me are underrepresented, I’ve suffered my fair share of self-doubt," she wrote in an email to the Daily. "However, my family, mentors, and friends at Tufts were always there to remind me to keep my chin up even in the most difficult times. They encouraged me to step out of Imposter Syndrome and into community, and they helped me recognize my value as a member of the Tufts body."
After graduation, Opare-Addo plans to be a clinical research assistant at Brigham and Women's Hospital before applying to medical school.
Thomas Risoleo was a biomedical engineering major on the pre-med track with a minor in music. He was a member of Tufts Emergency Medical Services, won the 2019 Tufts Symphony Orchestra concerto competition and was a member of the Tufts Amalgamates a cappella group. He is currently working at Lawrence General Hospital as an EMT.
Risoleo described his experience teaching an Experimental College class in spring 2020.
"The transition to teaching online notwithstanding, I think it was the most fun single experience I had at Tufts," Risoleo wrote in an email to the Daily. "I got a chance to teach a course on Marvel movies with one of my best friends to a full class of 20 students. It gave me a break from school, TEMS, and work, but most of all was something I’d wanted to do since I learned about the program during my 1st year of college."
He plans to pursue a master of science in biomedical engineering at Tufts before attending the Tufts University School of Medicine.
Ivette Rodriguez Borja studied community health and minored in English. Rodriguez Borja was involved with the First-Generation Collective and Tufts United for Immigrant Justice and was a peer leader for the FIRST Resource Center. She researched with assistant professor of community health Andrea Acevedo beginning her sophomore year. She began her own research project with Summer Scholars.
Saherish Surani was a psychology major and political science minor. She is a co-founder of a nonprofit, Project iConquer, which raises awareness about diabetes and childhood obesity. She published an Amazon No. 1 bestseller and No. new release, “The Stories of U.S.” (2019), was an executive coordinator for the Tufts University Social Collective and an executive organizer of TEDxTufts. Surani also pursued an honors thesis in psychology as a research assistant in the Tufts Racial Equity & Diversity Lab.
She reflected on the people she has crossed paths with at Tufts.
"From packing thanksgiving bags at 2 AM with TUSC to setting up the Cohen stage the night before TEDxTufts to teaching an ExCollege course to first-year students with my best friend in the basement of Eaton, I have found pockets of home in the people of Tufts," she wrote in an email to the Daily.
Emily Taketa was a biology and child study and human development double major. She was a StAAR Center tutor for American Sign Language and biology, a physics department grader and a peer mentor for the Korean Students Association and Japanese Culture Club. She currently interns at Boston Children's Hospital researching pediatric hearing loss and creating a neurodiverse and racially diverse library for therapeutic use.
Taketa spoke to her beginnings at Tufts.
"The reason why I came here was because of the people," Taketa said. "It feels really nice to organize for my contributions on campus over the past four years. So that's been really a huge honor and I was so grateful."
Sarah Wiener was a philosophy and political science double major, minoring in colonialism studies. Wiener served as the administration and policy committee chair on TCU Senate before becoming Senate president. She also co-taught a course on responsible community membership to first-year students. She hopes to work in public policy in the future.
Bronk spoke to the quality of this year's nominees.
“This year in particular, we were struck by the number of highly accomplished students nominated, which made the final selection both gratifying and time consuming. There was great diversity in the academic programs and the personal backgrounds of the applicants, and this diversity is reflected in the final award recipients,” Bronk said.
