They may have already given their speeches, but this doesn’t mean there isn’t more wisdom to go around! We asked the valedictorians and salutatorians of the Class of 2011 some questions, and they gave us very clever ways of avoiding the infamous oral sex question.

Did you do anything special to celebrate?

Margot (CC Valedictorian): Just some dinners with close friends. I also decided to take it a little easier with finals studying. I spent 25 hours in Florida last week, which sounds like it could be a good answer to this question. I was actually there to attend a research conference, but it was still very fun nonetheless.

Norases (SEAS Valedictorian): Those who know me are familiar with my mode of transportation around campus. I tend to sprint to and from classes and meetings, in order to save time that most people spend walking for more important things. After I found out, I slowed my pace to a jog and on a good day, I would actually walk. But when all of the senior festivities kicked off I was so busy I had to start running again.

Kira (GS Valedictorian): I think just what most graduates do. I spent time with family and friends and tried to savor the moment!

Elizabeth (CC Salutatorian): I received the congratulatory e-mail right before I was getting on a bus back home for Easter weekend: my celebration thus consisted of epic feasting with the family and long frolics with the poodle through the rugged wilderness of central PA.

Michael (SEAS Salutatorian): Honestly, not really. I think when I first found out, it didn’t really sink in how big of an award it really was! I think my family was more excited to find out than I was. We just had a nice little dinner, but no real big celebration.

Do people treat you differently now that you’re valedictorian?

Margot: I have been receiving more hugs than normal, and people have been incredibly sweet in congratulating me (thank you so much everyone, it means a lot!), but other than that, no.

Norases: I now have a PR Manager.

Kira: No. People have been supportive and happy for me and I appreciate that tremendously. But I’m still just the same quiet person I was before, and I don’t think I should be treated any differently.

Elizabeth: They definitely laugh at me more for stupid mistakes I make!

Michael: Not really. A lot of people say congratulations to me when I walk past them, but other than that, most of my friends still treat me exactly the same way as before. After all, I’m still the same person as before.

Read more…

More good news to spread today! SEAS ’11, here is your valedictorian and salutatorian:

Valedictorian: Norases Vesdapunt

Salutatorian: Michael Wang

Norases is a Computer Science major and has plans to attend grad school at Stanford. Michael is an Applied Physics and Applied Math major. Congrats to you both!

While an official announcement hasn’t been made yet, multiple tipsters have confirmed to us the lucky pair:

Valedictorian: Margot Lazow

Salutatorian: Elizabeth Lyon

Margot is a Biochemistry major and the president of the CU American Medical Students Association; she’ll tell you all about applying to med school the right way. Elizabeth is a Classics major at Columbia but also a member of Juilliard ’11; a brief Googling reveals that you’ll be wowed by her skills on the cello.

Congrats to the both of you!

Congrats to the academic champs of GS:

Valedictorian: Kira Boesch

• professional ballet dancer, psych honors program, psych TA, Barnard toddler center research assistant, nursery school teacher, heading to clinical psych doctorate program on fellowship

Salutatorian: Elliot Shackelford

• maintains full-time career as a pianist (performed at the White House 19 times!), GS tour guide, GSSC VP Policy, Committee on Instruction, Poli Sci major, Columbia University International Relations Forum, Political Science Students Association, law school bound

And some friendly words of advice—don’t borrow any more jokes.

On Monday, we learned the identities of the academic top dogs in CC, and last night, Bwog caught up with this year’s valedictorian, Arianne Richard.

How did you find out that you were valedictorian, and did you do anything special to celebrate? Dean [Michael] Pippenger emailed me about two weeks ago with the news of the committee decision. After a laughing fit in a stairwell (lame, I realize, but I was not in a place where I could start jumping up and down publicly), I called my parents and told several friends. My weekend then became a series of celebratory dinners and drinks.

Do people treat you differently now that you’re valedictorian? Not at all. And I am very glad. Except campus publications…this is new.

Did you ever find the Alma Mater’s owl? I hate to burst any legend-loving bubbles, but I never even looked for it. I actually don’t know where it is.

What’s your go-to study strategy when trying to stay focused? I write. Everything. I have a terrible time paying attention to anything I read unless I’m taking some sort of notes. (Several of my classmates can probably attest to my frantic scribbling during lectures.) Even when I am reading my class notes before an exam, I write all over them. In the end they’re illegible. Read more…

The 2010 valedictorian is Seth Davidovits from the Applied Physics department and the salutatorian is Rodney Chang, a mechanical engineer.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to the both of you!

Valedictorian: Arianne Richard, Biological Sciences Biochemisty

Salutatorian: Jeffrey Spear, Ecology, Evolution, and Environmental Biology

Stay tuned for updates!

Although no official announcement has been made (yet), Bwog tipsters have informed us that this year’s valedictorian and salutatorian will be Emily Clader and Mollie Schwartz.

Clader, a Mathematics/Philosophy double major, was also early Phi Beta Kappa, and a Bach Society alto to boot. Schwartz, a chemical physics major, is no stranger to prestigious awards: last year she won a Goldwater Scholarship. Congratulations to both!

- JCD

With the pomp and circumstance of Class Day and graduation weeks behind us, Bwog was surprised and delighted when we were contacted last night by Maxim Pinkovskiy, the Columbia College valedictorian.

Wrote Pinkovskiy: “As the valedictorian of Columbia College does not give a speech on Class Day, I did not get to make a speech. However, some students asked me to write one on my own, so I am sending you what I composed a few weeks after graduation.” Read on, nostalgic recent alums hoping to relive Class Day.

As we leave Columbia today, we are likely to ask ourselves: what has been the meaning of the past four years? Does our diploma indicate that we “have satisfied the onerous and nearly insuperable requirements for the degree of Bachelor of Arts,” or does it mean something more, even if just to ourselves? What do these medieval maces and baroque berets mean in the age of I-Pods and internships? As Plato might have said, what is the form of a university education, and might it have changed irrevocably from the days of yore? Like a good Columbian, when faced with these questions, I turn to the classics. More than two thousand years ago, in a China in the flux of social and economic transformation, Confucius, like us today, was asking himself: what are the fundamentals of a proper education in this world? His response was, as usual, an aphorism: 

      “To study and in due season to practice what one has learned, is this not a pleasure?”

      “To have friends coming from afar, is this not a delight?”

      “To remain unembittered even though one is unrecognized, is that not to be noble?” 

Confucius, Analects 1:1

Read more…

The latest in our continuing Senior Wisdom series: CC valedictorian Maxim Pinkovskiy 

Name, School:

    Maxim Pinkovskiy, CC

Claim to fame:

    I was the 2004 M&M Peanut Minute Student of the Year in Xavier Sala-i-Martin’s Intermediate Macro class!

Post-grad plans:

    Ph.D. in economics at MIT, then – I hope – professor at Columbia University.



Preferred swim test stroke?

    Walk three lengths on the bottom of the swimming pool on my hands.



What are three things you learned at Columbia?

1.    How to reconcile Thucydides’ interpretation of history as guided by characteristics of people as a whole – desire, hope, pride – with his deep interest in individual leaders.

2.    How to prove the Central Limit Theorem.

3.    “Everything has an economic intuition.” – Xavier Sala-i-Martin

Read more…

The School of General Studies has just announced its 2008 valedictorian: Joel Beal.

Beal, like CC’s valedictorian, is an economics-mathematics major. He is bound for Stanford in the fall, where he will be pursuing a Ph.D. in economics. 

Congratulations! 

Two years ago, Blue and White writer Amanda Erickson presciently profiled ’08 valedictorian Maxim Pinkovskiy. But don’t show this article to your parents–they’ll probably trade you back to the stork for a child like Maxim.

“He’s always right. Not almost always. Always,” says his former Professor Xavier Sala-i-Martin.

Every student in his macro class last year knows his name, and most perk up slightly at its mention. Maxim Pinkovskiy, C’08, was “that kid.”

“He always sat in the front,” one student quickly replied when I asked him what he knew about Maxim. “Always answering everything.”

Some imitate his nasal voice, his plunking, Russian, almost-sounds-put-on accent, and the way he bobs his head as he speaks. Some immediately bring up his white loafers or his pants, which reach midway up his chest. Read more…

We told you a few weeks ago about Claire Lackner, the quiet physics major who came out on top in this year’s GPA parade. This weekend, Bwog sat her down for a study break to chat about Mexican food, facebook, and looking at Mars.

The salutatorian gives a speech, but what does the valedictorian do? 

As far as I know the Valedictorian does nothing except sit up on stage with everybody on class day, which is nice because it means that if it rains there’s a tent, and I won’t get wet. Other than that, I don’t think there’s anything. 

How did you find out that you were valedictorian? 

They sent me an email. I knew I was being considered – Professor Blaer told me in December that he would be nominating me, but I got an email two weeks ago right before everyone found out when somebody posted it on the Bwog. 

Did you do anything to celebrate? 

I think it must have been a Thursday night, which means I was probably working on a quantum problem set, so no. Plenty of time to celebrate after everything’s done. 

Do people treat you differently now that you’re valedictorian? 

I don’t know how many people know – I guess a lot of people read the Bwog and know through that, but because I don’t have my Facebook profile up there’s no face-name association. 

Yeah, a lot of people with the best GPAs don’t seem to have Facebook – something like 40% of the people initiated into Phi Beta Kappa…

 

[Laughs] I actually do have a Facebook profile. It’s just set to hidden, and I don’t check it very often. So there is no real secret to not having a Facebook – I don’t use it; maybe that’s the real secret.  Read more…

According to an email circulated among the science types, the CC’07 Valedictorian is Claire Lackner, a published Physics major and Rabi Scholar, and daughter of Lamont-Doherty climate change maven Klaus Lackner. Don’t hate her because she’s smarter than you, or because she’s not on facebook–that’s pretty much par for the course.

Memo after the jump.  Read more…