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Posted 06/10/02
Following calculation of final four-year grade-point averages for the Dartmouth Class of 2002, (which graduated Sunday, June 9), the class had two co-valedictorians: Jonathan D. Altman of Seattle, Washington, and Mary E. Bennett of Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Swati Rana of Oakville, Canada, was the salutatorian . Altman and Bennett gave addresses during the College's commencement ceremonies.Swayne wins Wilson fellowship for
Over the course of their careers as Dartmouth undergraduates, Altman and Bennett each achieved a 4.0 grade-point average, the highest average possible on the Dartmouth grading scale (equivalent to a "straight-A"). Rana achieved a 3.97 GPA.
While this is not the first time Dartmouth has had co-valedictorians or the first time the top GPA has been 4.0, it appears to be the first time that co-valedictorians have shared that grade; the first time that one has been male, the other female; and the first time that the College has had not only two valedictorians but a salutatorian as well. In the only previous instance of co-valedictorians at Dartmouth that available records show, in 1997, two male graduates with a GPA of 3.99 shared the honor. (No salutatorian was named that year.) In recent years (1992, 1994 and 2001) there have been three instances in which a 4.0 grade average was achieved by an undergraduate, but in all those cases it was by only one student.
Biographical Background on Honorees
Altman, a double major in economics and philosophy, has received numerous honors and awards, including 12 class citations, a Presidential Scholar award, and inclusion in the Golden Key Honor Society (Junior Initiate). He is a Rufus Choate Scholar, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, a Study Group Leader and Tutor in the Academic Skills Center and has served as a research assistant for the College.
Altman participated in Dartmouth's Foreign Study Program, traveling to Edinburgh, Scotland, to study philosophy, and also to Keble College in England on an exchange with Oxford University. He has also held internships with Goldman Sachs & Company and Bain & Company.
In his free time Altman enjoys hiking, snowboarding and cooking. He is a member of the student group Big Green Investors.
Bennett has received numerous honors and awards while at Dartmouth, including five class citations in Spanish, three in government and one in sociology. A Spanish major and government minor, she is a Rufus Choate Scholar, a member of the Golden Key Honor Society, twice a recipient of the Edson Award (American Government and Comparative Government) and a member of Phi Beta Kappa (Sophomore Award).
The fall of her sophomore year Bennett traveled to Madrid to participate in a Dartmouth Foreign Study Program. She has worked as a tutor in the Composition Center, with Agora (a student discussion group) and was a member of the Dean's Student Advisory Network for Government. In addition, she has gained experience working with PricewaterhouseCoopers Global Solutions Center, the Office of Congressman Richard Burr (N.C.) and Belk Department Store.
Bennett's interests include reading and discussing politics, learning new languages and attending lectures presented by guest speakers at Dartmouth.
Rana, an English major, worked as a writer and editor of Main Street (Dartmouth's Asian American and cross-cultural issues journal). She participated in the Pan Asian Council, the Book Buddy Program and traveled on a Language Study Abroad trip to Lyon, France. She was awarded a Tucker Foundation Fellowship to teach in Delhi, India, and presented a paper at the Congress of the Americas in Puebla, Mexico.
Her many honors and awards include memberships in Phi Beta Kappa, the Golden Key Honor Society and Dartmouth's Rufus Choate Scholars. She was awarded a Thomas Campion Scholarship by the College and numerous honors from Dartmouth's English Department including a Feinstein Award, an Academy of American Poets Award, and a Sidney Cox Memorial Award, in addition to receiving High Honors for her English thesis.
Rana has worked as a Pan Asian Intern, a Presidential Scholarship Research Assistant, and as an International Office Intern. She enjoys Indian classical music and is an active member Dartmouth's Foley House, a cooperative living affinity house.
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