Claire Nuchtern ’15 Receives Priscilla Glickman ’92 Memorial Prize

Claire Nuchtern ’15 of Houston, TX was named the Priscilla Glickman ’92 Memorial Prize winner on Class Day, June 1, 2015. The Priscilla Glickman ’92 Memorial Prize is awarded to a Princeton senior who has demonstrated independence and imagination in the area of community service, seeks knowledge and purposeful adventure in unfamiliar cultures and maintains strong academic work. 

The monetary prize commends the qualities of curiosity in the world and commitment to the betterment of the world by recognizing outstanding past contributions to community service. Administered by the Pace Center, the prize is awarded to encourage the student recipient to explore new challenges in the future. 

During her four years at Princeton, Claire served as a tutor at the A.C. Wagner Youth Correctional Facility as part of the Petey Greene Program. She was a member of the Pace Center student organization Students for Prison Education and Reform (SPEAR), a board member with the Pace Council for Civic Values, a board member with the Women’s Mentorship Program, a Community Action leader, and a benefit concert organizer with Rebuilding Nepal: Princeton Community Relief Effort. She also started the College Counseling Project with the Student Volunteers Council her freshman year to connect local high school students with Princeton University mentors to bolster access to guidance and assistance in the college application process. 

In his nomination of Claire for the Glickman Prize, Michael Hecht, a professor of chemistry at Princeton, called attention her work on Sibs’ Journey, a project Claire and two friends founded outside of her work at the University. Sibs’ Journey aims to support siblings who have family members with disabilities and broaden the narrative of their experience.  The project was inspired by Claire’s own personal experience as a “sib” or the sibling of an individual with developmental disabilities and began after Claire received the Martin Dale Summer Award her sophomore year, which provides scholarship funding for sophomores to spend the summer having a transformative experience. 

Claire and friends Ellie Rosenthal and Renee Frederick spent the summer of 2013 driving 10,000 miles around the country interviewing more than 80 siblings between the ages 4 and 84, sharing their stories and experiences along the way. 

Sibs’ Journey expanded to include a conference for young adult siblings in the summer of 2014, and a partnership with the Sibling Leadership Network (SLN) in the fall of 2014, where as a board member Sibs’ Journey is focusing on developing and enhancing SLN’s young-adult programming. 

“Claire’s dedication to education, development and support are not limited to this specific cause,” wrote Professor Hecht. “She has been actively involved in inner-city education projects on an ongoing basis and has taken full advantage of the Princeton curriculum to educate herself in terms of how best to approach these issues from the perspective of policy, psychology and education.”

Ebony Slaughter-Johnson Receives the A. James Fisher, Jr. Prize

Ebony Slaughter-Johnson of Potomac Falls, VA, was named the 2015 A. James Fisher, Jr. Prize winner by the Pace Center. Given in honor of A. James Fisher, Jr. '36, the monetary prize is awarded to a Princeton senior who best exemplifies the qualities for which Mr. Fisher is remembered: entrepreneurial spirit, zest for life, love of people, and loyalty to Princeton through their work in the realm of civic engagement. 

A history major with a certificate in African American studies, Ebony served multiple years as a Community Action leader and member of the Student Volunteers Council (SVC) Student Executive Board. In addition, she devoted nearly all four of her years at Princeton to SVC imPACT (Princeton Academic Curriculum Tutoring), a weekly service project dedicated to inspiring and encouraging Trenton-area sixth graders through an original language arts curriculum. imPACT's volunteers tutor, write curriculum, research effective tutoring methods and serve as pen pals with youth.

Nominator Andrea D’Souza ’16 credits Ebony’s dedication and passion for imPACT as why she is truly deserving of the Fisher Prize. “While other leaders helped lead the program, it was Ebony’s dedication that ensured that our program existed both this school year and last,” Andrea wrote. “From chauffeuring volunteers across the state to complete various parts of the background check process to driving to Trenton sometimes over three times a week to communicate with a school principal with very little time to answer emails, Ebony gave so much of herself to the tiring process of establishing an after-school program in a public school.”

Ebony’s ability to navigate logistical challenges and help guide the project through a transition in approach and mission fostered greater success for the project – both in terms of its work with the sixth grade middle school students, and in growing and developing its student volunteers. Recognizing that the volunteers often lacked a strong cultural understanding of their tutees and could benefit from additional tutoring skills, she set up meetings with the project’s middle school principal and another with Dr. Jason Klugman, with Teacher Prep and the Princeton University Preparatory Program, an expert in urban schools.  

“There are a lot of students who get involved in service at Princeton,” Andrea wrote. “But few commit as much energy to making meaningful activities happen as Ebony has.”

In addition, six other members of the Pace Center for Civic Engagement student family received honors at the University’s Class Day ceremony. They include:

Brett Diehl '15 received the Harold Willis Dodds Prize. 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."

Tiana Woolridge '15 and Andrew Mills '15 received the Arthur Lane '34 Award given for outstanding contribution to sport and society by an undergraduate athlete.

Laura Harder '15 received the Allen Macy Dulles '51 Award. The award is given to a senior whose activities while at Princeton best represent or exemplify the University's informal motto, "Princeton in the nation's service and in the service of all nations."

Shawon Jackson '15 received the Class of 1901 Medal. The medal recognizes the senior, who in the judgment of the student's classmates, has done the most for Princeton.

Hannah Rosenthal '15 received the Frederick Douglass Award. The award was established in 1969, at the recommendation of then-assistant dean of the college Carl Fields, to recognize a senior who has exhibited courage, leadership, intellectual achievement and a willingness to contribute unselfishly toward a deeper understanding of racial minorities and who, in doing so, reflects the tradition of service at Princeton.

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