Council of Masters Honors 10 Juniors for their Scholarship, Character and Contributions

Ten Yale College juniors received honors from the Council of Masters in recognition of their scholarship, contributions to college life and their character. 

The prizes, winning students and their award citations follow:

F. Wilder Bellamy Jr. Memorial Prize

Established by friends of F. Wilder Bellamy Jr., B.A. 1937, this prize is awarded to the students who best exemplify the qualities for which the alumnus is remembered, including personal integrity, loyalty to friends and high-spiritedness in athletics, academics and social life.

Gregor Peter Nazarian, Ezra Stiles College. Nazarian has served as a Freshman Outdoor Orientation Trip (FOOT) leader, intramural sports secretary and captain, a leader of the Yale Exit Players, an editor of the Yale Record and a freshman counselor-elect. His citation notes that his “leadership on the courts or in dining hall discussions, his great zeal for his studies, and his mentoring of younger students have enabled him to leave his mark on our community.” The citation also praises his “integrity, verve and personable nature, as well as his strong record of leadership and mentorship.”

Eli Luberoff, Calhoun College. “Tutor extraordinaire, piano teacher, media consultant, webmaster, co-founder of the Yale chapter of Mathcounts Outreach, and software developer for Calhoun’s and Berkeley’s housing committees, you seem to possess a boundless energy,” reads Luberoff’s citation, adding, “You always brighten a room with your gentle smile and glowing personality; and you always soothe the anxieties of those Hounies staring into the maws of an impossible problem.”

Henry Finkelstein, Branford College. “Henry Finkelstein has been a staple of the Branford College community since his arrival, being a wonderful contributer to ‘the whole range of college life,’” notes his citation. He has played a major role on the college’s intramural teams, chaired the Student Activities Committee, been president of the Tango Club and served as assistant director of the Yale Entrepreneurial Society.

John C. Schroeder Award

This award, which honors former Calhoun College Master John C. Schroeder, is given to students who have contributed to residential college life and who, in the opinion of the committee, will “play a part in the good labor of the world.”

Emily Morell, Trumbull College. Morell’s citation describes her as “a truly exceptional leader who is dedicated to global health and public policy.” At Yale, she is editor of the Yale Journal of Public Health and serves as a campus organizer for the Yale Public Health Coalition. Internationally, she founded the Center for International Development, which incorporates student ideas into the public discourse. She co-founded Gardens for Health International, a non-profit organization that provides sustainable nutritional independence for HIV-positive individuals in Rwanda. For her public service, she has received a Harry S. Truman Scholarship and was selected as one of 16 Goldman Sachs Global Leaders from the United States.

Kate Gasner, Saybrook College. Gasner has been leading Yale’s Student Taskforce for Environmental Partnership (STEP) for the past three years, promoting campus efforts to reduce Yale’s environmental impact. In her role as a FOOT leader, she has “introduced scores of incoming freshmen to the great outdoors,” notes her citation. An environmental engineering major, she is conducting research this summer in Switzerland, where she will study the path of drinking water from its mountain origins to its destination in Zurich home faucets.

Minh Tran, Morse College. “Tran has made critical service contributions to several different communities ever since his arrival at Yale,” says his citation. “He has been of extraordinary service to the New Haven Public Schools, and was honored with the district-wide T.A.P.S. award, because of his immense contributions working with children in the elementary schools.” He has also served as president of Indigo Blue: A Center for Buddhist Life at Yale and, as a member of the African Dance group, Konjo, has helped bring some of those dance traditions into the New Haven Public Schools. “He does all this, and much more, with an infectious joy that inspires all those around them,” notes his citation.

Joseph Lentilhon Selden Memorial Award

Named for Joseph Lentilhon Selden, B.A. 1949, this prize honors juniors “whose verve, idealism and constructive interest in music and the humanities exemplify those qualities for which Joseph Lentilhon Selden is remembered.” In recent years the award has gone to students who are especially notable for their contribution to the field of music.

Lauren Libaw, Davenport College. “Lauren Libaw’s rich and expressive voice has grabbed the ears of Davenport and Yale’s musical community,” reads her citation. “She has performed with virtually every musical ensemble Yale has to offer and is starting to be recognized by the professional opera world, through her performances with the Los Angeles Opera, the Aspen Opera Theater Center and the Orchestra Sinfonica di Brescia. Lauren is noted for her verve, idealism and constructive interest in music, her accomplishments as a singer and her contributions to the musical life at Yale.”

Paul Sherrill, Calhoun College. “An active chamber musician at Yale and co-principal cellist of the Berkeley College Orchestra, you reserve your best performances for the worlds of music theory and scholarship,” says his citation. “Already producing work at a level reserved for graduate students and professionals, you consistently demonstrate promise for a significant career as a music scholar.”

Bram Wayman, Saybrook College. A composer before he arrived at Yale in 2005, Wayman was named a Shen Prize Winning Composer in his freshman year. A singer and pianist as well as composer, he writes music for campus productions of Shakespeare, for Yale Art Gallery podcasts and for the Undergraduate Musical Theatre.