The 24 highest-ranked members of the Class of 2004 have been inducted into the academic honor society Phi Beta Kappa at a ceremony held at College President James Wright's house.
Traditionally, seniors whose grade point averages rank among the top 20 in their class are inducted into the society early. But due to several identical averages this year, a total of 24 students were inducted during the Dec. 2 ceremony.
Jason Asher, Lindsay Clayton, John Corwin, Hrishikesh Desai, Nicolas Duquette, Ruben Guetschow, Robert Hayward, Daniel Kay, Edward Knudsen, Katey Krizan, Suzanne Larimore, Charles Light, Meredeth McGowan, Mary Mei, Kristina Mendicino, Vito Menza, Calvin Newport, Andrei Prokopiw, Savina Rizova, Nathan Senge, Melissa Sheiko, Megan Elizabeth Newton, Sarah Elizabeth Stoller and Daniel Wahl were the early Class of 2004 inductees for the Dartmouth chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.
The inductees said they were honored and gratified by the Phi Beta Kappa recognition.
"We all worked really hard for it," said McGowan.
"I was surprised and pretty excited," Larimore added.
Both Larimore and McGowan said they remembered a time when they couldn't have imagined joining the elite of Phi Beta Kappa's ranks.
As a freshman, Larimore said she viewed the society's requirements as a huge mountain to climb.
"I remember seeing the names in The D freshman year and being really impressed," Larimore recalled.
College administrators also distributed other awards at the ceremony.
Mikhail Akulov '05 and Sandeep Ramesh '05 received the Phi Beta Kappa Prize for maintaining the highest grade point averages in the junior Class of 2005.
Economics professor Alan Gustman, English professor emeritus William Spengemann and French professor Keith Walker were also admitted to Phi Beta Kappa at the induction ceremony.
Phi Beta Kappa has a long and rich history at Dartmouth and other colleges across the nation, according to Wright, who spoke at the induction ceremony.
The society was founded in December 1776 at the Raleigh Tavern in Williamsburg, Va.
Dartmouth's chapter, the fourth oldest in the nation, was founded 11 years later as an offshoot of Harvard's chapter. Phi Beta Kappa is the oldest undergraduate organization at Dartmouth, according to Wright.
The society did not get off to an auspicious start. When the founding members spoke at Commencement that year, the platform holding the student speakers and other dignitaries collapsed, Wright said.
Other milestones in Phi Beta Kappa's history include the decision to admit women as members in the 1880s and a revision to the constitution of Dartmouth's chapter in 1899, which stated that membership in Phi Beta Kappa would be determined strictly by academic credentials.
In the spring, all members of the Class of 2004 with a grade point average of 3.75 or higher will be inducted into Phi Beta Kappa.
