Special Awards

Oak and Ivy Award | Lang Award | McCabe Engineering Award

The Oak and Ivy Award is given to the student in the graduating class who is outstanding in scholarship, contributions to community, and leadership. This year the award went to Jean Luc Ishimwe, Reuben Kadushin, and Kayla Miller.

Jean Luc Ishimwe is a double major in physics and mathematics. An ambitious student, Jean Luc took every elective physics seminar he was eligible to take in addition to completing the nine required credits for the physics major. Jean Luc has excelled as a researcher and is currently doing research full time in preparation for beginning a Ph.D. program in the fall. He serves as a Photon, providing a welcoming space for his peers to learn.

Jean Luc is a Lang Opportunity Scholar who developed a project to alleviate menstrual period poverty in his home country of Burundi. Following a networked approach to systems change, Jean Luc collaborated with local non-profits to establish self-reliant period clubs. The project successfully conducted activities that raised awareness about menstrual period poverty, empowered communities through education on menstrual health and skills training, and provided sustainable solutions in the form of pad-manufacturing materials. Jean Luc is being recognized both for his contributions to the College and the wider, global community.

Reuben Kadushin is a major in political sociology with a minor in English literature who recently earned Highest Honors. Reuben is a critical and innovative thinker who designed a number of his own independent and directed readings whose topics ranged from race and migration to postcolonial nationalism to the political economy of Cold War Mexico, conducting advanced theoretical work and engagement with primary sources.

An active and engaged member of the campus community, Reuben helped organize the Labor and Justice Project Speaker Series, which brought activists and scholars to campus to speak on issues of labor, gender and justice. He also launched the Solidarity at Swat campaign that advocates for a living wage for campus workers. A Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellow, in the fall Reuben will pursue a joint JD/Ph.D. degree in history, specializing in Latin American studies, at NYU.

Kayla Miller is a major in environmental studies with minors in English literature and Black studies. She is an engaged scholar who is deeply committed to environmental and social justice. Through her work and leadership with the Chester Residents Concerned for Quality Living (CRCQL) and the Campus Coalition Concerning Chester, Kayla has worked closely with local residents to raise awareness about environmental racism in the region. Kayla organized around a Pa. State House bill to restrict pollution emissions in Chester, built a youth leadership group, canvassed on the streets, and appeared on local radio shows to advocate for environmental justice. As a result, she was awarded CRCQL’s inaugural Gail Whitaker Social Justice Award.

Kayla has also worked with the Good Energy Collaborative, which partners with organizations in Philadelphia and Chester to support local sustainable projects. In recognition of her many accomplishments, Kayla was awarded the prestigious Udall Scholarship for undergraduate students who show promise in environmental justice leadership. Kayla is also a founder and co-director of AJA, a group that promotes the wellbeing of Black women and non-binary people on campus.

The Lang Award is given to “a graduating senior in recognition of outstanding academic accomplishment.”  This year the award was given to Stephen Kwas.

A double major in Chemistry and Sociology & Anthropology, Stephen Kwas recently earned Highest Honors. Living up to the ideal of a liberal arts education, Stephen has succeeded at the highest levels across diverse disciplines and wrote two senior theses.

At an early stage in his chemistry career here, Stephen developed the capacity to design experiments, propose hypotheses, and engineer new molecular systems independently. He helped establish two major research branches in a chemistry lab, laying the groundwork for the lab’s research portfolio. Stephen has presented at numerous chemistry conferences, including the American Chemical Society Mid-Atlantic Regional Meeting, where he was praised for his poise and scholarly promise.

Within Sociology & Anthropology, Stephen produced a thesis on how Hmong communities in Wisconsin use farming to both (re)produce Hmong identity and to navigate the demands of U.S. cultural citizenship. The thesis was noted for its methodological ambition, analytical depth, and sustained commitment to the communities he studies. Stephen has a unique ability to draw from diverse fields and utilize his quantitative and qualitative skills to produce meaningful projects.

Stephen was a TA in several chemistry courses and was praised for his clarity and patience, often staying late at Alchemist sessions to support his peers. He was recently awarded the ACS Senior Chemistry Award, given annually to the graduating individual who made the most significant advance in the study of chemistry. Stephen recently received an Honorable Mention for his NSF Graduate Research Fellowship proposal, a significant academic recognition. Stephen will next pursue a Ph.D. in chemistry at Princeton University.

The McCabe Engineering Award, presented each year to the "outstanding engineering student of the graduating class," was awarded to Lindsey Turner and Yihui Wu. 

Engineering major Lindsey Turner has distinguished himself through his coursework and deep commitment to sustainability and environmental justice. Among his many accomplishments, Lindsey took on the operation and maintenance of the Aquaponics system in Eldridge Commons. He also served as a President’s Sustainability Research Fellow, working with Friends Historical Library to reduce energy use and improve environmental conditions for their fragile collection. He has been an active participant in a dynamic campus-community partnership between Swarthmore College faculty and students working with environmental justice organizations and community partners in Chester and Philadelphia. For his senior project, Lindsey partnered with a fellow student on an instrumented vermicomposter for salad bar waste that’s used in a food garden on campus. After graduation, Lindsey will work for the Philadelphia Water Department, where he hopes to use his analytical thinking, design skills, and passion to create safe, sustainable solutions to serve the public.

Yihui Wu completed a double course major in mathematics and engineering, and an Honors major in mathematics with an Honors minor in engineering. She has taken an incredible 31 courses in STEM fields during her four years, while also being active in the Chinese student community. Additionally, she’s been a part of the campus theater community, working as a sound designer for six college projections. Yihui has an impressive ability to quickly grasp technical concepts and approaches her work with confidence and ease. She was a peer educator for Engineering and also tutored and helped grade assignments in the Math Department, where she was a Dresden Research Fellow, contributing meaningfully in both departments to student learning and success. Her senior design project explored the feasibility of a system for ultrasonic lip reading. Following graduation, Yihui will next be a Ph.D. student in robotics at Oregon State University.