Seniors Owen Gottlieb and Peter Hecht won honorable mentions in USA Today as members of the All-USA College Academic Team.
USA Today annually honors college students nationwide for outstanding academics, community service and leadership. The team was announced in yesterday's USA Today.
Gottlieb was awarded an honorable mention for his achievements in directing the Dartmouth Film Society and interning for the Telluride Film Festival this summer in the Filmmakers of Tomorrow program.
USA Today honored Hecht for his work on a new model of wheelchair in an engineering class.
Gottlieb said he was surprised to be recognized this year in the competition.
"It was very nice to receive an honorable mention even though I hadn't done such a large project this year," he said.
This is the third year in a row Gottlieb, a film studies major, has been recognized by USA Today. In 1993, he earned a position on USA Today's third team by helping to found Asgard, Dartmouth's alcohol and substance-free student organization.
Last year, Gottlieb co-wrote, directed and produced a documentary film about alcohol at Dartmouth, earning a place on the second team.
Film Studies Professor Bill Pence nominated Gottlieb for the award.
"Owen is one of the most capable, intelligent, exciting human beings I have ever worked with," Pence said. "He's got great things in store for him."
Pence is the director of film at the Hopkins Center for the Performing Arts.
Currently Gottlieb is working on his thesis project -- production of a fiction film based on Argentinian Politics of the 1970s and 1980s.
Gottlieb is interning for the Telluride Film Festival this summer and said he hopes to attend graduate school in film studies.
USA Today also recognized Hecht for his academic excellence and leadership in the community, particularly involving his group project for Engineering 21.
Hecht was part of a team that designed a new type of wheelchair that enables paraplegics and quadriplegics to move from their wheelchair into other sitting positions more comfortably and safely.
The group tested its model at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center with physical therapists, and their engineering professors offered financial support to patent and market the wheelchair.
"Everyone thought that I wouldn't do well at Dartmouth as a double major in engineering and economics, but I've proven that if you set your goals, focus and have confidence in yourself, anything is possible," Hecht said. "I think that is why USA Today honored me."
Engineering Professor John Collier nominated Hecht for the award.
Hecht, who is going through the corporate recruiting process, said he hopes to get a Ph.D. in finance in order to become a professor of financial economics.
"I'm very happy for Peter. He has always been a very intense student, very focused, and yet he knows how to have fun at the same time," Engineering Professor Albert Henning said.
Both Gottlieb and Hecht are Rufus Choate Scholars and members of Phi Beta Kappa.
There were 20 students on USA Today's first team, 20 on the second team, 20 on the third team and 63 honorable mentions.
