9 students receive Spirit of Princeton Award

Nine students have received the 2013 Spirit of Princeton Award, which recognizes positive contributions to the University community. Rafael Abrahams ’13, Ariceli Alfaro ’13, Farrah Bui ’14, Russell Dinkins ’13, Catherine Ettman ’13, Daniel Gastfriend ’13, Ruey Hu ’13, Carmina Mancenon ’14 and Nathan Mathabane ’13 were selected from a pool of applicants who were nominated by other members of the University community.

Administered by the Office of the Dean of Undergraduate Students, the Spirit of Princeton Award has been given each year since 1995 to students who enhance the University though their contributions to student organizations, athletics, community service, religious life, residential life and the arts, according to the award website.

Abrahams is a history major from Woodmere, N.Y. At Princeton, he was the Editor-in-Chief for the Nassau Weekly and wrote for Triangle Club. Abrahams is also pursuing a theater certificate and wrote an original play for his thesis, entitled “Eight Feet.”

“I’m just happy the University recognizes creative and artistic activities as significant,” he said. “I think the school has a really strong community of writers that I am really happy to represent.”

He has also been an assistant residential college adviser in Butler College, worked as a tour guide at the art museum and held leadership positions at the Center for Jewish Life. After graduation, he will join Teach for America in New York.

Alfaro, a psychology major from Burbank, Calif., was “stunned” to find out she had won the award.

Alfaro has been involved in numerous campus theatrical productions in a technical capacity. She has been the tech director and business manager of the Princeton University Players and worked at Murray-Dodge and Richardson Auditorium. After graduation, Alfaro will be studying HIV prevention and intervention at a Gladstone Institutes-affiliated lab in San Francisco, Calif.

Bui is a Wilson School major from Fort Mill, S.C. At Princeton, Bui is on the Community House Executive Board, is a SHARE Peer Adviser, serves as a U-Councilor and is president of Questbridge. In the USG, Bui has served on numerous committees, including the Social Committee and Projects Board. As a U-Councilor, she also worked on Mental Health Week.

Bui said she is grateful to have worked with many passionate and driven students at Princeton. “There is no way a lot of that stuff could have been accomplished without those students,” she said. “I could name off a list of students I think would be better suited, but I’m very grateful the University selected me.”

Dinkins is a sociology major from Philadelphia, Pa. Over the course of his Princeton career, he has run track, danced with diSiac and the HighSteppers and sung in Umqombothi. He is a Community Action leader and was an RCA for the Freshman Scholars Institute last summer. Dinkins noted that he particularly enjoyed meeting underclassmen through his activities. He is a three-time NCAA All-American athlete in track and field, has four individual Ivy League titles and holds two individual Princeton records in addition to three Ivy League relay records. In March, Dinkins was part of the distance medley relay team that won the NCAA Championship.

This summer, Dinkins will be working on an entrepreneurial project as part of the eLab program. He is also considering post-collegiate running.

“I was really honored to have others recognize my contribution to campus,” he said. “I thought it was a nice award to win. I was really touched to think that someone recognized me.”

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Ettman, a Wilson School major from Miami Beach, Fla., has been involved with the USG throughout her Princeton career. In addition, she has been part of a number of performing arts groups including Princeton University Players and Triangle Club. During her senior year, she was one of two undergraduate students selected to form part of the University’s search committee that recently elected Provost Christopher Eisgruber ’83 as the new University president. She has also participated in two Breakout trips and been involved in a number of community service initiatives. During her sophomore year, Ettman co-founded the Women’s Mentorship Program.

“I’m so honored to have this award, and I wish I could share it with a lot of people who made it possible,” Ettman said. “I could not have made it through Princeton without my friends.”

Gastfriend is a Wilson School concentrator from Newton, Mass. Gastfriend sings bass in the Footnotes, has served as co-chair of the Pace Council for Civic Values, is the former president of the Princeton chapter of the philanthropic organization Giving What We Can and was the vice president of the Social Entrepreneurship Initiative.

As a junior, Gastfriend won the nationally competitive Truman Scholarship for students planning to pursue graduate degrees in public service. After graduation, he will intern at the World Bank for a time and then move to Uganda to work for IDinsight, an international development consulting organization with a focus on program evaluation.

“I have a lot of respect for some of my friends who won it last year,” he said. “It means a lot to be among them … it’s a real joy to be involved in many different things.”

Mancenon is an operations research and financial engineering concentrator from Tokyo. She is vice president of the USG, part of the Pace Council for Civic Values, a dormitory assistant and a member of the Naacho Indian Dance Company.

“I feel really blessed to have this award,” she said. “People who have received it before are people who I’ve looked up to.”

Mathabane is a geosciences major from Portland, Ore. An RCA in Rockefeller College and a three-season athlete in cross country and track and field, he has also worked at Murray-Dodge and as a supervisor for intramural sports. Mathabane is a columnist and former associate opinion editor for The Daily Princetonian. On Saturday, he and his relay team broke the Princeton record in the 4x800m relay at the Penn Relays. After graduation, Mathabane will pursue an M.A. in geology at the University of Oregon.

Mathabane said he is happy he has been able to make the Princeton experience “better and a little more interesting.”

Hu is a molecular biology major from Toronto, Canada. On campus, he has served as the co-president of the Pre-med Society and set up a pre-med freshman mentoring program. He also co-founded Speak with Style, led a Breakout trip to Boston and previously wrote for American Foreign Policy magazine. With professor Lynn Enquist, Hu researches pseudorabies, a viral disease in swine.

“I felt very blessed since I know so many friends that have done amazing things on campus whom I hope one day will be recognized,” he said. “For me, the Spirit of Princeton is about creating shared communities and bringing people closer together in ways that benefit everyone as well as contribute to some greater service need for the community.”

Staff writer Jean-Carlos Arenas contributed reporting for this story.