Each spring, dozens of University of Mary Washington students join the nation’s oldest and most prestigious honor society – Phi Beta Kappa – with a Sunday afternoon induction ceremony and the applause of faculty, staff, campus community members and their families.
Fifty-seven UMW juniors and seniors were inducted into Phi Beta Kappa during a recent ceremony announcing the 2025 cohort of the University’s Kappa of Virginia chapter. They join an impressive roster of members, including 17 U.S. Presidents, 42 Supreme Court Justices and more than 150 Nobel Laureates.
The ultra-selective, merit-based, invitation-only honor is reserved for the best and brightest liberal arts and sciences undergraduates from fewer than 300 top schools across the nation. Only 10 percent of American colleges and universities have Phi Beta Kappa chapters, and at each of those schools, fewer than 10 percent of students are selected as members.
This year’s ceremony was held April 6 in the Hurley Convergence Center’s Digital Auditorium on UMW’s Fredericksburg Campus, with guest speaker Rusty Spears, from the Richmond Association of PBK.
Carleigh Wood received the Roy H. Smith Phi Beta Kappa Award, presented by Professor of Chemistry and Honors Program Director Kelli Slunt. The award and scholarship are given to a rising senior who demonstrates significant academic accomplishments.
Congratulations to the new 2025 Phi Beta Kappa members:
Chasity Autumn Beeson
Makayla Jean Bowman
Grace Hannah Buck
Ilse Castaneda-Forkel
Laura Emrich Connors
Valentine Cotton
Katie Craddock
Eniya A. Cropper
Kiera Croswait
Paul Joseph Datovech
Tyler Downs
Grace Dulay
Kathryn Grace Field
Emma Maeve Fleeharty
Ally G. Fletcher
Lia Fowler
Victoria Gallaway
Alexa Goodchild
Emily Granger
Samantha Kealoha Greer
Sophia Hackett
Jason Harsha
Kate Howlin
Trinatee Huff
Anne Courtney Jackson
Sophie Wren Jensen
Eleni Juliée Kepler
Iaroslavna Kovalenki
Ezra Lee
Emma W. Lehman
Patrick Lynch
Ace Molloy
Mollie Moomaw
Robert Moore
Victoria Mueller
Christina Ann Oswalt
Lucy T. Parente
Kelsey Elizabeth Payne
Natalia C. Ramirez
Jasmine Suhey Rivas
James Rollison
Ella Violet Schmehl
Rylan Sedlacek
Alisa Shtabnoy
Savannah Sinor
Sullivan Andrew Smith
Nyah Noelle Speicher
Mackenzie Renee Swain
Megan Elizabeth Tappen
Mallory Thompson
Adriana Inez Thompson
Rowan Tully
Christian Vanhoek
Emily Patricia Wills
Isabella Wilson
Carleigh Madison Wood
Mariana Zamora
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