On an otherwise normal Wednesday in August, Sophia Fikke ’22 noticed a new email from an Amherst address. The sender was provost and dean of the faculty Catherine Epstein, who wanted to share some good news.
“It has come to my attention,” the email began, “that you may not have been informed that you are the Woods-Travis prize winner for the class of 2022. Congratulations!”
The Woods-Travis prize recognizes “faithfulness to duty as a scholar,” but that description gives little away. In fact, it’s the College’s highest academic award, given by the registrar’s office to the top-ranked student or students in a graduating class. It is normally awarded at Commencement, but with final grades due later than usual this year, there was no winner on graduation day.
For Fikke, the email was a chance to reflect on her years at Amherst. “What initially came to mind are the big milestone moments,” she says, like when her team, women’s soccer, won the NESCAC championship her sophomore year, and when she defended her philosophy thesis on John Stuart Mill.
“It’s all credit to the people I was surrounded by.”
As she thought about it, though, she realized the small moments stand out even more: an energetic debate with friends on whether there is such a thing as free will, for example, and helping a classmate prepare for a job interview. Equally important, she says, are memories of faculty and staff who supported her, including her thesis adviser, Professor of Philosophy Nishi Shah, and head soccer coach Jen Hughes.
“It’s a bit surreal,” Fikke says of the award, “but I do think it’s all credit to the people I was surrounded by, the quality of the academic environment, the quality of our conversations.”
That’s a lesson she has carried with her into her next chapter, as an associate consultant at Bain Capital, a job she began this fall.
Photograph courtesy of Sophia Fikke