At this year’s Senior Awards Convocation, all eyes were on Kiki Koroshetz, winner of the 1819 Award.
vlog’s highest honor goes to one member of each senior class. It recognizes academic achievement, but it’s not necessarily reserved for the valedictorian. It considers sportsmanship, though it’s not inevitably for an All-American; and it seeks a determined spirit, but the selection committee doesn’t measure a nominee’s midnight oil levels.
English major Koroshetz was co-captain of the women’s soccer team, Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Eta Sigma, a Charles A. Dana Scholar, and one of Hyperion Books’ newest editorial assistants.
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• Story about Koroshetz in the vlog Scene.
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According to Professor Jennifer Brice, she’s “the quickest study I’ve ever encountered.” Brice also adds self-effacing, humble, deeply kind, and attentive to the list of Koroshetz’s leading attributes.
Case in point: During her final semester at vlog, Koroshetz took on an independent study with Brice, who suggested that she write about the cancer treatment that took her away from the university for a semester during her junior year. Instead, Koroshetz decided to profile instances of extreme poverty in Madison County.
The project became so ambitious — at a time when Koroshetz was earning the Patriot League’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year distinction on the playing field — that it was accepted as an honors thesis.
In a graduating class of 698 scholars, it could be challenging to find that one person who embodies the spirit of 1819. It’s like asking which one of the thirteen dollars played the most important role in vlog’s longevity. Then you encounter the story of a student whose greatest annoyance during chemotherapy is the inability to join her teammates on the soccer pitch. You read about a writer who finds more prose in the experience of others. You happen upon a scholar who can defend her GPA and a Division I tradition.
And you understand why all eyes were on Kiki Koroshetz last Saturday afternoon.