Twenty two members of the Class of 1997 were inducted into the Dartmouth chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa honor society on Tuesday at a ceremony at the home of College President James Freedman.
Each fall roughly 20 members of the senior class get an early invitation to the society, which whose academic rank is among the highest," according to the organization's charter.
Come spring, the top 10 percent of the class will be invited to become members of the society.
Seniors already inducted into the society are Kenneth Allen, Monu Bedi, Tait Bergstrom, Kendra Buzzell, Kathryn Celenza, Christopher Dorros, Bryan Farrow, Daniel Fehlauer, Theodore Jones, Nakul Krishnaswamy, Shari Lipner, Elizabeth Lipson, Alison Lokey, Dana Luthy, Sachin Mehta, Kathryn Miller, Cailin Nelson, David Sadoff, Jessica Sin, Daniel TenPas, J.Brooks Weaver and Ellen Wight.
This year's inductees had different reactions after being elected to the Society.
Kenneth Allen, an engineering major, said that he was thrilled when he found out he had been selected.
"I knew I was kind of up there and my relative position in class," Allen said. "I knew I had a shot at it".
Allen said that his interest in his classes urged him to do well. "Engineering is something that I really like -- I get fired up," he said.
Daniel Fehlauer also said that his classes played the biggest part in his success. He said that in the past couple of years he has focused less on grades.
"I'm here to learn and I think I do well because I enjoy learning," Fehlauer said. The Phi Beta Kappa Induction is "nice, but it's not my motivation."
Fehlauer said, "It's bad to take a course for a grade -- it's good to be concerned about grades, but you shouldn't insulate yourself with your books."
He spends a lot of time as a member of the German Club and is on a team of organizers for the Thursday Night Fellowship, a support group on campus.
Early Phi Beta Kappa member Alison Lokey does some community service work in the area, but she said her schoolwork may have suffered if she had gotten too involved in activities.
"I like to do the best work that I can do," Lokey said, "I like to produce things that I am proud of."
All of the members put their school work above other things.
Philosophy major Monu Bedi said, "I've always thought that a lot of people at Dartmouth are very intelligent. [Getting good grades is] a matter of dedicating yourself and your work ethic."
The College's chapter is called the Alpha of New Hampshire and is the fourth oldest chapter in the country.
Undergraduates are eligible if they complete eight residence or off-campus terms at Dartmouth College and are also ranked in the top 20 of their class by October 15, three years after matriculation
The students who qualified as of October 15, 1996 have "Junior Membership into Phi Beta Kappa" because they are chosen based on their academic standing at the end of their junior year, according to Margot de l'Etoile, secretary treasurer of the Society.
L'Etoile said consideration is given to students who have legitimate reasons for not completing courses, such as those writing theses.
