This year's valedictorians, Geoffrey Kirsch '09, a transfer student, and Yangyang Liu '09, who is graduating at the age of 19, both maintained a 4.0 grade point average while at Dartmouth. Both valedictorians and the three salutatorians Alex Nomitch '09, Devin O'Connor '09 and Laura Romain '09 were inducted to the Phi Beta Kappa Society this year, along with being named Rufus Choate Scholars.
Romain is a former member of The Dartmouth staff.
Kirsch, who hails from Concord, N.H., spent a year at Tufts University before transferring to Dartmouth at the start of his sophomore year.
"Transferring here was undoubtedly the best decision I've ever made," he said. "I felt, and it has certainly been confirmed during my time here, that Dartmouth offered superior academic opportunities in general."
Kirsch majored in English, with a concentration in American literature.
During his junior year, Kirsch was named a James O. Freedman Presidential Scholar. As a research assistant, Kirsch helped English professor Donald Pease organize an annual seminar for graduate students on American studies, and proofread several of Pease's papers.
Kirsch said that this experience in particular has helped him learn "how to learn."
In his senior honors thesis, Kirsch focused on Henry David Thoreau, William Faulkner and Cormack McCarthy.
"The theme I addressed was the representation of nature in each of these books, and how this relates to the myth of the frontier in the United States," he said.
Kirsch, who plans to attend Harvard Law School in the fall, was awarded Dartmouth's Alfred K. Priest Fellowship. The fellowship provides funding to graduating seniors who wish to pursue graduate studies at Harvard University.
Over his time at the College, Kirsch received five citations in English and one in geography
Kirsch said he was relieved when he found out he had been named as one of the valedictorians.
"On some level I'd be lying if I said I wasn't mindful of the potential of being named valedictorian for some time now," he said. "I sort of set it as one of my goals, and this gave me a lot of extra motivation."
Over the summer, Kirsch will work at the Concord Historical Society in Concord, N.H., where he also spent his junior spring and summer.
Kirsch said that his speech at Commencement will relate to Dartmouth's motto, "Vox Clamantis in Deserto."
"As Dartmouth graduates we, too, are voices crying in the wilderness,'" he said.
Kirsch said that underclassmen ought to take advantage of the guest lecturers who come to campus.
"The academic experience is a lot more than just the library and the classroom, and I wish I could have done a little more of that during my time here," he said.
Liu, who is from Changsha, China, matriculated at Dartmouth at age 16 after spending a year at Beijing University. At Dartmouth, she was a double major in history and mathematics, and studied the impact of science and technology on international relations.
Although Liu said she had no previous experience writing papers in English when she arrived at Dartmouth as a freshman, she went on to write two honors theses, one in history and one in math.
Along with receiving an invitation to join Phi Beta Kappa her senior year, Liu received the Phi Beta Kappa Sophomore Prize, which recognizes the student with the highest grade-point average at the end of five terms, in 2007.
Liu was also a Presidential Scholar during her junior year at the College. She received the Charles Downer Hazen Fellowship, given to the history major with the highest GPA, and was a Dean of the Faculty research grant recipient for a project on the political activity of mid-century nuclear scientists.
Liu served as the president of Dartmouth Mathematical Society during her junior year and also worked as the senior editor of World Outlook, Dartmouth's undergraduate journal of international affairs.
"It was a very helpful experience since I was able to look at how students from all different disciplines approached the same topics I was interested in," Liu said of her time as senior editor.
She also served as a peer mentor for Dartmouth's Women in Science Project during her sophomore and junior years.
Liu said that being named valedictorian was meaningful to her because her achievement proved that Chinese students in America can study subjects outside of the sciences, Liu said.
"A lot of people from China have this fear of doing the humanities in the States, but it's definitely possible," she said.
Liu will attend Yale Law School in the Fall and said she hopes to become a law professor in the future.
She will deliver a speech at commencement along with Kirsch, although she said that she does not yet know what she plans to discuss.
Throughout their time at Dartmouth, each of the salutatorians maintained a GPA of 3.99.
Nomitch, who hails from Bannockburn, Ill., was a double major in economics and mathematics, and finished taking classes this past Fall.
While at Dartmouth, he said he enjoyed various sports including squash, tennis, skiing and golf.
He received the Nelson Rockefeller Prize in Economics, and received nine academic citations in economics, math, computer science and chemistry.
Nomitch interned at Goldman Sachs twice during his undergraduate years and will start working in Goldman's New York investment banking division in July.
Nomitch said he may choose to go on to business school in the future, but plans to work for several years first.
O'Connor, originally from Demarest, N.J., was a history major and public policy minor at Dartmouth. She received four citations while at the College, two in history and two in environmental studies.
O'Connor served as the chair of Dartmouth's chapter of Habitat for Humantiy and said she was also highly involved in her sorority, Alpha Xi Delta, where she held positions including philanthropy and community service chair. O'Connor is a member of the Green Key Society.
O'Connor wrote a senior honors thesis in history on Irish nationalism and how it was impacted by violence in South Africa between 1899 and 1902.
She will attend Harvard Law School next year as a recipient of the Alfred K. Priest Fellowship for graduate studies at Harvard, where she said she plans to pursue environmental law, she said.
O'Connor interned in the domestic violence unit of the Bergen County Prosecutors Office in New Jersey during her junior summer, and plans to work at the Justice Solutions Group, also in New Jersey, this coming summer.
Romain, an English major from Convent Station, N.J., played the violin in the Dartmouth Symphony Orchestra and served as the poetry editor for Dartmouth's literary and art magazine, The Stonefence Review. She also worked for Dartmouth's feminist publication, Untamed.
During her junior year, Romain was also a Presidential Scholar, and worked with English professor Brenda Silver. She received the Grimes Prize in English her senior year.
Romain wrote an honors thesis in English, which concentrated on poet Emily Dickinson.
She received nine citations in English, History, Astronomy and Russian Literature.
Romain interned this past summer at Folio Literary Management, a literary agency in New York. While she is currently undecided about her future employment plans, she said she is considering pursuing a career in the fields of journalism or publishing.
