PBK Selects 2013 ‘Junior 24’

Lounging in the sunshine on the Quad lawn on Thursday afternoon, William M. Rafey ’13 had skipped class to listen to a mathematics lecture when he received an email notifying him that he had been named a member of the “Junior 24.”

Phi Beta Kappa announced on Thursday its “Junior 24”—the first 24 members of the Class of 2013 to be elected to the organization’s Harvard’s chapter.

According to Harvard PBK President Logan S. McCarty ’96, who was elected to PBK himself during his time at Harvard, 48 finalists were selected based on their GPA and invited to apply to the organization. Applicants were required to submit two letters of recommendation from professors, and a selection committee then chose among the 48.

PBK considered many factors when making its decision, including breadth of coursework, difficulty of courses taken, and participation in undergraduate research.

“This is a really incredibly talented group of students,” McCarty said. “We see students who are taking six courses in a semester. We see students who are studying three different languages at the same time. It’s really incredible to see the talent of these extraordinary students and trying to make a decision among this group is extremely difficult.”

McCarty said that “all As with maybe two A-minuses was the typical sort of transcript” among candidates.

Juniors who were inducted into PBK unanimously attributed their success to taking classes that interested them across a number of disciplines. Rafey, a Social Studies concentrator, said he has taken courses in eleven different departments. Anthropology concentrator Annmarie E. Ryu ’13 said she seriously considered at least nine different concentrations. And Ann M. Morgan ’13 described her academic career—which has included a concentration in chemistry, courses in physics, and research in biology—as “schizophrenic.”

Julian B. Gewirtz ’13 said that while he was proud to be named a member of PBK, he was even prouder to see his blockmate, Benjamin B. Wilcox ’13, also receive the honor.

“It was really, really cool to see Ben, my blockmate, also get it because I really can’t think of a more deserving person than him,” Gewirtz said. “It’s a nice feeling to be placed in his company.”

Lee C. Seligman ’13 and Allan J. Hsiao ’13, roommates who were both named members of the “Junior 24,” will likely celebrate the honor by taking advantage of Restaurant Week and going out to dinner in Boston, Seligman said.

Members of the Class of 2013 who were not selected in the first round still have two more opportunities to be elected to the society, which will ultimately include 10 percent of the graduating class, according to McCarty.

The 24 juniors inducted into the society on Thursday are Carl Daher, Spencer L. de Mars, Tony L. Feng, Julian B. Gewirtz, Ike I. Greenstein, William P. Grogan, Adam T. Horn, Allan J. Hsiao, Jessica J. Hwang, Jillian J. Jordan, Andrew S. Kennard, Yacoub H. Kureh, Ann M. Morgan, Robert K. Nishihara, Camille S. Owens, William M. Rafey, Annmarie E. Ryu, Lee C. Seligman, Kevin M. Stone, William J. Sun, Sivakumar S. Sundaram, Emily S. Unger, Benjamin B. Wilcox, and Alexa K. Zahl.

—Staff writer Rebecca D. Robbins can be reached at rrobbins@college.harvard.edu.

—Staff writer Hana N. Rouse can be reached at hrouse@college.harvard.edu.