Students honored for leadership and service at 2026 Class Day
Members of Princeton University’s Class of 2026 celebrated the end of their undergraduate careers with a Class Day ceremony honoring their achievements and leadership on Monday, May 25. Recipients of this year's awards are as follows:
The Allen Macy Dulles ’51 Award was given to George Tidmore of Valdosta, Georgia. The award recognizes a senior whose activities at Princeton best exemplify the University’s informal motto, “Princeton in the nation’s service and the service of humanity.” Tidmore is majoring in German and minoring in African American studies and creative writing. He founded and served as executive editor of the multilingual student-run magazine GLOSSA. On campus, Tidmore was a peer health adviser, a Pace Center Service Focus fellow, and a member of the Triangle Club, the club tennis team and the Princeton Playhouse Choir. He also served as vice president of the Shere Khan a cappella group and secretary of Princeton Students for Reproductive Justice. Tidmore is a recipient of the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence and a member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. Outside of Princeton, Tidmore is a founding member of the Oxalosis and Hyperoxaluria Foundation’s Youth Executive Leadership Program and a member of the Young Adult Rare Representatives. He is a member of Mathey College.
Brian Mhando, of New York City, received the Frederick Douglass Service Award, established in 1969 at the recommendation of Carl Fields, who was assistant dean of the college. The award is given to a senior who has exhibited “courage, leadership, intellectual achievement and a willingness to contribute unselfishly toward a deeper understanding of the experiences of racial minorities and who, in so doing, reflects the tradition of service embodied in education at Princeton.” Mhando is an ecology and evolutionary biology major with minors in African studies, African American studies, and global health and health policy. He served as a co-leader of the Africa Program at the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination, a fundraising coordinator and camp counselor for Princeton’s Camp Kesem, an Outdoor Action leader, and sports editor of the Daily Princetonian. Mhando also chaired Princeton’s Undergraduate Student Government’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion committee. He was awarded the Princeton Prize in Race Relations as a high school student in 2022 and a Gates Cambridge Scholarship as a senior at Princeton. He is a member of Mathey College.
The Harold Willis Dodds Achievement Prize was presented to Nadia Makuc of Monterey, Massachusetts. The award recognizes the senior who best embodies the qualities of Princeton’s 15th president, Harold Dodds, “particularly in the qualities of clear thinking, moral courage, a patient and judicious regard for the opinions of others, and a thoroughgoing devotion to the welfare of the University and to the life of the mind.” Makuc is a classics major with minors in medieval studies and Hellenic studies. Her contributions to Princeton include serving as the chair and clerk of the Princeton Honor Committee, co-president of the Aquinas Institute, and president of Princeton Pro-Life. She also founded Caring for Kids, a Pace Center program supporting mothers and young children. Makuc worked as a digital imaging specialist for Princeton’s “Connecting Histories: The Princeton and Mount Athos Legacy” project on Athonite collections. She is a member of Whitman College.
The W. Sanderson Detwiler 1903 Prize was awarded to politics major Minna Abdella of Khartoum, Sudan, and Edison, New Jersey. The prize is given to a senior who, in the judgment of the student’s classmates, has done the most for the class. Among her contributions to campus life, Abdella served the Class of 2026 as a member of the class council, and then as class president for three years. She is also a member of the Class Day committee and chaired the class Commencement committee. Abdella served as the head of events for the Black Premedical Society, a summer engagement coordinator with the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, and an international policy associate with the Liechtenstein Institute on Self-Determination. Abdella is a member of Mathey College, where she also served as a peer academic adviser.
Enzo Kho of Negros, Philippines, received the Walter E. Hope Class of 1901 Medal, which recognizes the senior who, in the judgment of the student’s classmates, has done the most for Princeton. Kho is majoring in sociology with a minor in urban studies. His contributions to Princeton include serving as a leader of the Undergraduate Student Government, first as chair of the social committee, and then as president. Kho also served as the youth engagement chair of the Pace Center’s Student Volunteers Council, a peer career adviser with the Center for Career Development, a community outreach coordinator for the Princeton Filipino Community, a Community Action fellow, an undergraduate fellow with the James Madison Program in American Ideals and Institutions, and performed with three dance companies. He is a member of Whitman College.
The Priscilla Glickman ’92 Memorial Prize — given to a Princeton senior who has “demonstrated independence and imagination in the area of community service, who seeks knowledge and purposeful adventure in unfamiliar cultures, and who maintains strong academic work” — was awarded to Aaliska Sapkota, a molecular biology major from West Hartford, Connecticut. Sapkota was a Pace Center Service Focus recruitment and senior fellow, a head fellow for the Emma Bloomberg Center for Access and Opportunity, and a member of the Program for Community-Engaged Scholarship (ProCES) student advisory board. She was an El Centro volunteer and a middle school tutor through the Pace Center’s Community House program. She also served on the Undergraduate Student Government’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. Sapkota completed a global health internship in La Paz and Tarija, Bolivia, through the Office of International Programs and studied abroad in Barcelona, Spain. She is a member of Butler College.
Athletic awards
The Class of 1916 Cup was presented to rower Braeden Carroll of Kinnelon, New Jersey. The award, which was established by the Class of 1916 on the occasion of its 50th reunion, is presented to the senior varsity letter winner with the highest academic standing. Carroll, who is majoring in civil and environmental engineering, is a two-time Empacher-IRCA Scholar Athlete for Princeton men’s lightweight rowing team. During his time with the Tigers, the team has won an Intercollegiate Rowing Association National Championship and two Jope Cup championships. Carroll, a two-time recipient of the George B. Wood Legacy Prize and the Shapiro Prize for Academic Excellence, was recently awarded the Pyne Prize, Princeton’s highest general distinction conferred on an undergraduate. Carroll has worked with the High Meadows Environmental Institute and been active with the Undergraduate Student Government and the Princeton Student Events Committee. He is a member of Rockefeller College.
The C. Otto von Kienbusch Award, which recognizes the top senior sportswoman at Princeton, was awarded to field hockey player Beth Yeager, an economics major from Greenwich, Connecticut. While at Princeton, Yeager became the first Ivy League field hockey player and eighth in Division I history to be a four-time first-team All-American, as well as the first in her sport to be a four-time Ivy League Offensive Player of the Year. A four-time unanimous first-team All-Ivy League selection, Yeager began her career as the league’s Rookie of the Year and followed that by winning Mid-Atlantic Region Player of the Year and honors and becoming a Honda Award finalist as a sophomore. She competed at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris and then led Princeton to the NCAA quarterfinals as a junior and to overtime in the NCAA championship game as a senior, captaining both teams. She won another Mid-Atlantic Player of the Year Award and was a Honda Award finalist again as a senior, when she also was named the Most Outstanding Player at the Ivy League tournament and to the NCAA tournament All-Tournament Team. Yeager finished her Princeton career with 59 goals and 35 assists, the program’s second player to achieve those numbers. She is a member of Whitman College.
The William Winston Roper Trophy was awarded to swimmer Mitchell Schott, an East Asian studies major from Newport Beach, California. The trophy, awarded since 1936, goes to “a male senior of high scholastic rank and outstanding qualities of sportsmanship and general proficiency in athletics.” Schott is a two-year captain for Princeton men’s swimming and diving. He became Princeton’s first Top 8 NCAA finisher since 2012, earning two First Team All-America honors and two Second Team honors at the 2026 NCAA Championships. He also qualified for the NCAA Championships in eight events. Schott is a two-time Ivy Championships High Point Swimmer of the Meet, a nine-time Ivy League Champion, and a three-time Ivy League Runner-Up. He set school records in 12 different events during his career and earned three CSCAA Scholar All-American honors and two Academic All-District selections. Schott helped lead the Tigers to their first undefeated campaign since 2015-16 and back-to-back Ivy League titles following an eight-year drought. He is a member of New College West.
The Arthur Lane ’34 Award honors selfless contribution to sport and society by an undergraduate student-athlete. This year the honor went to football player Jaden Wedderburn, an anthropology major with certificates in law, politics and economics, from Glassboro, New Jersey. Wedderburn, a senior offensive lineman for Princeton football, helped connect middle school students at Trenton’s Christina Seix Academy with community leaders to explore topics in urban planning and public policy as part of the Pace Center’s Service Focus Perfect City Cohort. He also served as a team lead for Urban Promise Trenton, where he developed a curriculum for a youth mentoring program, as well as for the Social Justice Group in the office of New Jersey Assemblywoman Verlina Reynolds-Jackson. At Princeton, Wedderburn was an active leader with the Black Student-Athlete Collective, a Vote100 ambassador, and co-founded the college esports recruiting platform EVAL through the Keller Center. Wedderburn is a member of Yeh College, where he also served on the college council.
The Chris Sailer Leadership Award honors a senior student-athlete who demonstrates exceptional leadership and a commitment to serving others. The award was donated by Lucy Small DeStefano of the Class of 1999 and Chris DeStefano of the Class of 1994 in honor of Chris Sailer, Hall of Fame women’s lacrosse coach at Princeton from 1987 to 2022. This year the honor went to track and field athlete Shea Greene, a politics major with a certificate in entrepreneurship, from Weston, Connecticut. Greene is a senior and two-year team captain for Princeton women’s track and field. She is a two-time 2nd team All American and the first four-time Ivy League champion in the javelin, and recently helped the team become the first Ivy women’s program to achieve back-to-back Heptagonal Triple Crowns. Greene has been part of the executive team for the Student-Athlete Wellness Leader program and is a founding member of her team's community service committee. She also served as co-president of the Jewish Student-Athlete Collective, a class representative for the Department of Politics, and an undergraduate associate for the Julis-Rabinowitz Center for Public Policy and Finance. She is a member of Rockefeller College.
Honorary class members
Each year, the graduating class nominates and selects faculty, staff, alumni or others who have made a profound impact on the student body.
Class of 2026 honorary class members are: Alvan Flanders, detective sergeant in the Department of Public Safety, and DPS service dog Coach; Henry Shim, lecturer in economics; Mariyah Salem, assistant director for international programs at the Davis International Center; Christeen Griffiths, sous chef in Butler College; Wendy Kopp of the Class of 1989, founder of Teach For America, co-founder and CEO of Teach For All, and this year’s Class Day speaker; Tori Repp, photographer with Fotobuddy; Ruha Benjamin, the Alexander Stewart 1886 Professor of African American Studies; Stephanie Lewandowski, program manager in the Program in Humanistic Studies; and Christine Twiname, administrative coordinator at the Stanley J. Seeger ’52 Center for Hellenic Studies.
All University programs and activities are open to all eligible participants without regard to identity or other protected characteristics.
