Eight students receive 2008 Spirit of Princeton Award

Eight students have been named winners of the 2008 Spirit of Princeton Award, which honors Princeton undergraduates for their positive contributions to campus life. The award recognizes students who have demonstrated a strong commitment to the undergraduate experience through contributions to student organizations, athletics, community service, religious life, residential life and the arts.

This year's winners were selected from a group of 90 nominees and will be honored with a book prize at a dinner on May 9. The award, which has been given annually since 1995, is sponsored by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students.

Here is information on the 2008 winners:

Senior Anna Almore of Midlothian, Va., is co-coordinator of the Leadership and Mentoring Program, which pairs incoming freshmen with student mentors. She founded Ignite, a program that encourages underprivileged middle and high school students to attend college by having them visit the Princeton campus. Almore also has been the co-chair of the Undergraduate Student Government U-Council, the chair of the pre-college initiative for the National Society of Black Engineers, a member of Black Arts Company, an undergraduate fellow at Butler College and a teacher's assistant for the Princeton University Preparatory Program. In January, she received the University's MLK Day Journey Award, which recognizes efforts to continue the journey to achieve Martin Luther King Jr.'s vision for America. She is an English major and a candidate for certificates in African studies and African American studies.

Senior Katy Andersen of Phoenixville, Pa., co-founded the Princeton Farmers' Market held on the University campus and served as president of the student environmental organizations Greening Princeton and Greening Dining. She has received a Fulbright grant to continue her research on sustainable agriculture and cheese production in Italy next year. Andersen was a member of the varsity track and field team. She also was the director of the Business Today seminar series and has taught seminars on how to start a campus farmers' market. She is a French and Italian major and a candidate for a certificate in environmental studies.

Senior Karen Bailey, a Los Angeles native, has worked on diversity issues as an intern at the University's Fields Center for Equality and Cultural Understanding. She has been a member of numerous student organizations, including the Black Arts Company, the Princeton Association of Black Women, the Leadership and Mentoring Program, the Black Student Union and the Black History Month Committee. She also is a mentor with the Big Brothers Big Sisters program. She is an ecology and evolutionary biology major and a candidate for a certificate in African American studies.

Junior Andy Chen, originally from Los Angeles, is founder and co-manager of the Student Design Agency. Under his leadership, the graphic design agency sponsored a national design conference on campus this spring. Chen also helped open a media center in Rockefeller College. Chen received the Martin Dale '53 Summer Award to spend the past summer in India. He is a sociology major and a candidate for a certificate in East Asian studies.

Senior Josh Loehrer of Pulaski, Va., has served as a leader and program coordinator for the Community Action program and project coordinator for Big Brothers Big Sisters. He has received the Lee D. Butler College Service and Leadership Award for his work on campus. He was a member of the Butler College Council and served as a Butler residential college adviser. Loehrer also was the president of the club soccer team and served on a committee to help expand the role of intramural sports. He is a member of Greening Princeton and participated in Engineering Projects in Community Service, a course designed to work on the social and technical dimensions of engineering projects for local nonprofit organizations. He is a Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs major.

Senior Sian ÓFaoláin, an Atlanta native, is president of the University branch of Sustained Dialogue, which aims to create an open and healthy campus climate. Under ÓFaoláin's leadership, the organization organized six dialogue groups on campus and hosted the Sustained Dialogue Campus Network annual conference in 2006. She also is co-founder of the Union of Multiracial and Multicultural Students and a member of the Princeton Justice Project. She is a Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs major and a candidate for certificates in Latin American studies and African American studies.

Junior Agatha Offorjebe of San Jose, Calif., has earned All-Ivy and All-American titles as a member of the varsity track and field team. She also serves on the Varsity Student Athlete Advisory Council and has worked with University Health Services to develop and implement the Princeton University Student-Athlete Wellness Leadership Institute. She co-chairs the Alcohol Coalition Committee, serves as a sexual health adviser and will work as a Butler College residential college adviser next year. Offorjebe is a ecology and evolutionary biology major and a candidate for a certificate in urban studies.

Senior Meaghan Petersack of Mercerville, N.J., is the class of 2008 secretary. She is a senior member of the Pace Council for Civic Values and helped organize the "Reflections on Service" panel presentation during freshman orientation week. Petersack ran American Red Cross blood drives on campus, earning the Red Cross Chairperson of the Year Award and the Outstanding University Blood Drive Program Award for Princeton in 2007. She also served as the Teach for America campus campaign coordinator and will teach for two years in Washington, D.C., through the Teach for America program. She is a Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs major.