Phi Beta Kappa Accepts 87 Seniors

The last batch of seniors to be accepted to the national academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa will be inducted this morning in Harvard Hall. Eighty-seven graduating seniors will join the 72 of their classmates who are already members of the society.

“My roommate was inducted into it this fall,” said Pfohorzeimer House resident Karin S.L. Johnsson ’06. “That was the first time I heard about it, and I didn’t expect to be nominated, so I just didn’t really think about it again.”

The Biological Anthropology concentrator, who plans to go to medical school in the fall, said she thought her recommendations probably helped her stand out, but that she had still been very surprised to be accepted.

“I kept telling myself ‘You’re going to be rejected, you’re going to be rejected’,” she said.

“It feels really, really great to have your achievements recognized and to be part of this group.”

But Johnsson, who is from Sweden, said her parents had little idea what the award meant when she told them of it.

Leverett House Government concentrator Matthew C. Sullivan ’06 had no such problem.

“My dad may have been more excited than anyone,” he said. “I really had no idea what the chances were...but it was especially nice, at the end of my senior spring, to get this.”

Cabot House resident Sarah L. Paiji ’06 said that she too was “honored” to be one of those accepted, “especially considering the other people that were chosen.”

“I definitely heard about Phi Beta Kappa in the past when I was a freshman,” she said. “But it was a big surprise to be nominated.”

Future University of Chicago Medical School student Charles Kulwin, a Currier House resident, was similarly surprised by his acceptance.

“Actually I didn’t think I would [be accepted] since I didn’t think I had the strongest recommendation letters, as I had to reuse older ones,” he said. “So it was an incredibly pleasant surprise.”

He added that he was looking forward to the induction ceremonies this morning.

“It’ll be a nice little pre-commencement warm-up,” he said.

In addition, the following members of the Class of 2006 were elected to Harvard’s chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

Adams: Jayme J. Herschkopf, Chang Liu, Srihari Mahadev, Yonina R. Murciano-Goroff, Kim T. Nguyen, Jared Roitstein-Vega, Ruchira Saha, Karin S. Schrader, Henry J. Seton

Cabot: Lyly C. Minh, Caroline Cecot, Rivers Cuomo, Benjamin L. Istvan

Currier: Jennie K. Hann, Conor S. Tochilin, Annie R. Zhang

Dudley: Kyle R. McCarthy, Matthew A. Steinert, David A. Wax

Dunster: Alexander S. Captain, Christopher J. Catizone, Farhang Heydari, Mary J. James, Andrew L. Kalloch

Eliot: Jay A.H. Butler, Katharine C. Hinkle, Meghan V. Joyce, James G. Levine, Daniel W. Shoag, Zachary B. Singer, Ying Sun, Dina S. Wang, Shengping Yu

Kirkland: Kyle C. Frisina, Nathan A. Labenz, Liam R. Martin, Lauren A.E. Schuker

Leverett: Luke M. Appling, Amar C. Bakshi, Elizabeth W. Green, Stephanie R. Hurder, Alice C. Hwang, Long Le-Khac, Jose P. Payne-Johnson, Emily C. Richmond, Julian M. Rose, L. Alexander Slack

Lowell: Orr Ashenberg, Lora R. Dagi, Evan Hepler-Smith, Jenny J. Jin, Nancy Kang, Henry C. Lin, Rebecca G. Pomerantz

Mather: Hana R. Alberts, HeeWon Lee, Qicheng Ma, Robert H. Michelassi, Eric S. Nguyen, Daniel J. Obus, Prashant P. Sharma, David W. Simmons-Duffin, Hasuk F. Song, Inna I. Zakharevich

Pforzeimer: Amanda R. Brosius, John R. Hein, James W. Honan-Hallock, Victoria L. Sprow

Quincy: Jennifer S.S. Balakrishnan, Jonathan A. Blazek, David C. Foster, Lauren A. Horowitz, Christopher M. Re, Jessica R. Rubin-Wills, Ariane I. Tschumi

Winthrop: Andrew G. Crocker, Susannah M. Dickerson, Mina D. Dimitrova, Bethany L. Hoag, Christopher R. Le Coney, Kathleen A. Lee, Raphael C. Rosen, Adam N. Scheffler

—Staff writer Alexandra C. Bell can be reached at acbell@fas.harvard.edu.