Ten Students Inducted to Phi Beta Kappa

The Middlebury College Phi Beta Kappa chapter inducted ten seniors into the honors society on Saturday, Oct. 3 at a ceremony that coincided with Fall Family Weekend. A committee of faculty selects the students based on their academic transcripts in their first three years.

One of the inductees, Kate Hamilton ’15.5, a political science major, believes the most important aspect of academic life is maintaining a balance.

“I like to look at my week in advance and make sure I am leaving time for schoolwork, but also extracurriculars, running, outings with friends and long dinners. I think we all do better, more productive work when it’s not all we are doing,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton embraces the serendipitous value of a liberal arts education, as she deliberately chose to not have a minor.

“I have really enjoyed being able to dabble in a lot of other disciplines. I feel like I have spent a good deal of time in History, Economics and Psychology classes in addition to Political Science,” Hamilton said.

Tom Hyeon-Seok ’16, another inductee, stumbled upon his major while attending a Middlebury event.

“I chose my [economics] major after conversing with the department chair and Charles A. Dana Professor of Economics, Peter Matthews at a piano concert. Economics, combined with statistics, I learned, enables us to explain nearly every aspect of our lives with stories backed by numbers that are often much more objective than words,” he said.

In a few months, the inductees will embark on their postgrad plans, carrying with them the honor of membership in a national society of academics. Hamilton, a Truman Scholar, said she plans on law school.

“My ultimate goal is a law career focused on expanding democratic participation. I would love to work for the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice, either in the Voting Section or the Educational Opportunities Section,” she said.

Hyeon-Seok will work at a consulting firm in Denver. After a summer job at the firm, he realized it was a great way to “hone [his] quantitative skills and get exposed to the business and legal sectors.”

With such an accomplishment, the two inductees share their secrets of success. “I think it’s really important to take classes that genuinely interest you, because you are so much likely to do well when you are engaged in the material,” Hamilton said.

Hyeon-Seok, however, first clarified that membership in Phi Beta Kappa should not be seen as the ultimate measure of success. “While I consider a membership in PBK as a great honor, I do not equate that to a sign of success. After all, there are many smarter, talented, and interesting individuals on this campus,” he said.

His tip for academic success at Middlebury is to develop relationships with peers in and outside the classroom.

“I found debates and arguments I had outside of classrooms with my friends on topics from lectures immensely helpful in internalizing lessons and insights from the course,” Hyeon-Seok said.