Graduating Scholars to gather once more before beginning new adventures

May 11, 2009

By hammersmith

The Flinn Scholars Program will honor 23 graduating Scholars at the program’s annual Recognition Dinner on May 17, celebrating the students’ exceptional array of accomplishments during their undergraduate years and highlighting their diverse goals for the future.

The graduating Scholars include athletes and political-campaign staffers, writers and bench scientists. Michael Barnes led a survey of water-sanitation projects in Honduras for Water1st International, and Greta Baranowski interned with publishing houses in Berkeley, Calif. and Tucson. Adrienne Contos raced in the 2008 Collegiate Nationals for the University of Arizona triathlon team, while Emily Ricq studied cell-penetrating peptides at the Université Pierre et Maire Curie in Paris. Matt Rolland’s band, The Hermit Tree, released its eponymous first album on iTunes, and Melissa Lamberton served as education coordinator for the Phoenix Mars Scout Mission.

Some of the Flinn Scholars graduating this May, back in RomaniaIn the near term, several graduates will remain in Arizona. Amy Alabaster will complete a master’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biophysics at UA. Scott Fry will also be at UA, pursuing a Ph.D. in economics. Matt Petterson will pursue a master’s of music in performance degree at Arizona State University. Annelyssa Johnson will attend medical school at the UA College of Medicine – Phoenix in partnership with ASU.

Alexander Barnes and Nicole Rennell will also attend medical school, while Lynné Abbuhl and Amanda Confer will serve in Teach for America. Joel Edman, Vidula Patki, and Devin Mauney, a Truman Scholar, will enter law school. Dwanna Crain and Levi Trujillo will teach English and other subjects in Pápa, Hungary.

Four of the graduates will continue their educations in doctoral programs in northern California. Lara Cardy, a Goldwater Scholar, will begin the Ph.D. program in neuroscience at the University of California at Davis. Nearby UC Berkeley will play host to Urusa Alaan, who will study functional materials and materials for energy, Robert Gibboni, who will study neuroscience, and Kirsten Pickering, who will study philosophy.

“We are so proud of what these members of the Flinn family have accomplished,” said Michael Cochise Young, Flinn Foundation assistant vice president for scholarship programs. “And we anticipate eagerly the contributions they will continue to make to their professions, their communities, and the world.”