Amanda Kuo ’26, a longtime contributor to Kenyon’s theater scene, and Grace Jansen ’26, a swimmer and psychology major, have been honored this spring with the Franklin Miller Award.
The recognition is given to students who make unusual or significant contributions to the academic environment of the College.
Kuo has been a crucial facilitator for theater productions since coming to Gambier, working in the costume shop for four years, stage managing numerous shows, serving on the board of Kenyon College Players, and photographing productions at the Bolton Theater.
“My favorite thing in the world is logistics and problem solving,” she said. “I love seeing a dreamer and an artist who, what drives them is they wake up and they're dreaming about these crazy ideas. And I love being like, ‘I want to make that come to life.‘“
A double major in music and religious studies, Kuo finds time for numerous other activities across campus as well. She serves as a head tour guide for the Office of Admissions, sings with the Chamber Singers, and is a former music director for the jazz a cappella group Take Five.
Kuo, who grew up in Arkansas and upstate New York, was nominated for the award by Assistant Professor of Drama Chloe Cappuccilli, who said she always exceeds expectations and makes those around her better. “Amanda is one of the most reliable students I’ve met on campus,” she said. “She is also a delight to have in the room, funny and kind. She is an exemplary collaborator.”
After graduation, Kuo will spend the summer building costumes for a theater festival in Utah and stage managing in upstate New York as part of a Kenyon-funded internship with New York Stage and Film.
Jansen is a four-year member of the College’s storied swim team who has taken the discipline needed to compete in the pool and applied it to all she does around campus. This includes important research in the social sciences.
“There’s a rigor and structure to being a student athlete that shapes how you approach everything else, and swimming has instilled a kind of discipline in me that extends far beyond the pool,” she said. “I’ve learned to bring that work ethic into my psychology research, especially that which addresses disparities within the child welfare system.”
A psychology major from Arlington, Virginia, Jansen has served as a research assistant in the John W. Adams Summer Scholars Program in Socio-Legal Studies and is now lab manager of the social psychology and the law lab led by Associate Professor of Psychology Margaret Stevenson, who nominated her for the award.
“I am so fortunate to have known Grace in various capacities — as my student in the classroom, as a research assistant in my lab, and now as my lab manager,” Stevenson said in her nomination. “Grace is capable, intelligent, driven, socio-emotionally mature, a natural leader and a stellar student.”
Jansen, who is secretary and treasurer of Psi Chi, the campus chapter of the international honor society for psychology, will attend Boston College next year as she pursues a Master of Social Work.
The semiannual awards are named for Franklin Miller Jr., a longtime member of the faculty and a distinguished physicist, teacher and textbook author.
They 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.