For the first time in Dartmouth's history, three members of the graduating class have been named valedictorians, as they all maintained 4.0 grade point averages throughout their College careers. Nicholas Christman '08, Jean Ellen Cowgill '08 and Margaret Fitchet '08 are this year's valedictorians, although only Christman and Cowgill will speak at Commencement.
Christman, a computer science major and math minor, is a member of the men's soccer team. While at Dartmouth, he received the Class of 1948 award for best male scholar-athlete in 2006 and was named to ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-America First Team in soccer. He also received a NCAA postgraduate scholarship. Christman received a class citation in 2006 and was a Rufus Choate Scholar , a distinction awarded to students whose GPAs rank within the top five percent of undergraduates.
"There's no great secret [to balancing academics and athletics]," he said. "You just have to make sure you start things early and manage your time well."
Christman said he felt a sense of pride and relief when he received the news because sports awards had made his GPA "quite public knowledge."
"I've probably been asked about 35 times a term [since Junior year] whether I was going to be able to keep it up," he said.
In addition to playing soccer, Christman served as chapter vice president of service activities for Alpha Delta fraternity, of which he is a member.
Christman interned as a business analyst with the consulting firm McKinsey and Co. in Washington, D.C., in 2007. After graduation, Christman intends to work for the organization in its Boston office as a business analyst.
Cowgill, from Lexington, Ken., shared an office with Christman when as a fellow intern in the Washington, D.C., offices of McKinsey and Co.
"I think Dartmouth is about the people," she said. "Without the relationships you make here, it would be a random place in the woods, but the people are just fantastic."
A history major minoring in art history, Cowgill wrote a thesis on "Civilization in the United States," a 1922 text written by several leading 20th-century intellectuals.
Cowgill was a Rhodes Scholar finalist and a Rufus Choate Scholar each year at the College. A staff writer for The Dartmouth, Cowgill penned the "Granite in Our Brains" column. She was also involved in theater and community service at the College, serving this year as campus co-chair for Relay for Life, which raises money for cancer research.
With Erika Sogge '08, Cowgill received the Kathryn Wasserman Davis 100 Projects for Peace grant, worth $10,000, through the Dickey Center for International Understanding. Cowgill and Sogge used the award to create a program to teach theater to teens in areas affected by Hurricane Katrina.
Following Dartmouth, Cowgill plans to return to McKinsey and may eventually pursue a graduate degree in history.
An English major who is also a pre-medical scholar, Fitchet said she was "shocked" to learn that she would be among this year's valedictorians. She added that her success was due more to the classes she took rather than to any peronsal characteristic. Unlike Cowgill and Christman, Fitchet, who said she was glad there were three valedictorians, opted not to deliver a Commencement address.
"I knew that the other two really wanted to speak," Fitchet said, adding that she also felt that she was "a little bit shy" to speak at the ceremonies. "I think two speakers is more than enough for the audience to sit through."
At Dartmouth, Fitchet's academic interests included Victorian literature and Japanese religions and literature. After graduation, she plans to go to Japan as part of the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme before attending medical school, for which she will begin the application process in the summer. Fitchet said she hopes to learn about Eastern style medicine, such as acupuncture techniques, while in Japan.
"It's really a whole different way of approach," Fitchet said. "I just think it would be cool to see what's out there."
Fitchet completed two observerships at Massachusetts General Hospital during her junior year. Working at the hospital led her to decide to pursue medicine rather than trying to become an English professor, she said.
Fitchet received seven citations while at Dartmouth.
A government and geography double major, Daniel Mahoney '08 will be this year's salutatorian. He received the National Council of Geographic Education Award for Excellence in Scholarship by the geography department and the Colby Government Prize from the government department. He also served as a Dartmouth Habitat for Humanity volunteer and completed a marathon while at Dartmouth. After graduation from the College, he intends to work at Jones Lang LaSalle as a real estate analyst and pursue a Master's degree.
