Students Eddie Delk ’27 and Lucas Waite ’28, who have created important opportunities to enrich those who share in their academic passions, have been honored this fall with the Franklin Miller Award for their contributions to the College’s academic environment.
Waite, a math major, is president and co-founder of Kenyon’s Math Problem-Solving Club, which he helped create last year.
“It’s just so much fun,” he said. “There’s a real collaborative aspect to it. Your ability to solve problems increases a lot when you’re able to work with people. … It’s all about the different perspectives, different ways that people are inclined to solve problems based on what they’ve seen in the past.”
Waite, who is from Massachusetts, aims to become a math professor one day. He said he enjoys tutoring peers through the Math and Science Skills Center and helping local middle schoolers through the recent Science Saturday program both to aid others’ understanding and his own mathematical communication skills.
He conducts and presents math research as well and was nominated for the award by Professor of Math Noah Aydin, his mentor this summer when he was a Summer Science Scholar. “Lucas is exceptionally enthusiastic about research in pure mathematics,” Aydin said. “(But) his enthusiasm for mathematics goes beyond academic work and benefits others. He is always happy to talk about mathematics with anyone.”
Delk, a student intern at Kenyon’s land trust, the Philander Chase Conservancy (PCC), conceived and spearheaded the planning of an event featuring alumni from around the country who spoke about careers related to the environment. The panel and networking opportunity called “Green Collar Jobs” attracted more than 40 students on Sept. 24.
An environmental studies major with a concentration in biology, Delk said it was particularly valuable for him and his peers to talk with a variety of professionals in the field and hear about their different career paths.
“Networking opportunities are super, super important,” Delk said. “Given our amazing alumni network, I just wanted to foster those connections between previous Kenyon students and current Kenyon students. … It was really nice to be able to hear from them and their journeys.”
A student from Louisville, Kentucky, Delk is a senior admissions fellow, a Spanish tutor, and a Summer Science Scholar who works in the lab of Assistant Professor of Biology Kamesh Regmi. He is easily recognizable around campus in the company of his dog, Moose.
Delk was nominated by Evan Stern, project coordinator for the PCC, who said he did a great job of seeing a need for his peers and meeting it in a way that will be helpful for future students, too. “Kenyon’s Green Centers will use this event as the foundation to continue providing engaging opportunities for students relating to careers in the environment,” Stern said. “Eddie’s work has the real potential to carry on to many future classes of ENVS students and students passionate about the environment.”
The Franklin Miller Awards are given to students who make unusual or significant contributions to the academic environment of the College. The awards are named for Franklin Miller Jr., a longtime member of the faculty and a distinguished physicist, teacher and textbook author.
The awards were established by Edward T. “Chip” Ordman ’64, who credits receiving a modest, named award as a student with helping him get into graduate school. The award is meant to give that same small, but meaningful, encouragement to deserving students whose efforts and ingenuity make a difference in the life of the Kenyon community.
Nominations are accepted in September and March of each year.