The Robert Day School of Economics and Finance at Claremont McKenna honored its first graduating class of RDS scholars during a dinner on Thursday, April 30, at Mallot Commons on the Scripps College campus. The evening included remarks from Trustee Robert Day '65 and Janet Kiholm Smith, dean of The Robert Day School, and also recognized the 18 newly selected RDS scholars for 2009-10fifteen of them from CMC, and one each from Harvey Mudd, Pitzer, and Scripps colleges.
Day Scholars may elect to pursue either a specific undergraduate program to achieve competency in finance, accounting and leadership psychology, or a new Master of Finance degree, or both. Of the seniors graduating this month from college as well as the RDS program, two of themPatrick Foley and Ben Taborsky (both HMC)have accepted admission to the RDS Master's Program in Finance. The latter program transitions them into an intensive, two-semester degree immediately following their senior year.
Fourteen of the graduating Scholars will be joining the ranks of firms such as Bank of America, Deloitte, Deutsche Bank, Houlihan Lokey, J.P. Morgan, and Cambridge Associates. True to the program's goal of preparing students for leadership roles across a variety of sectors, psychology major Christy Ferioli plans to pursue public interest law and will attend Stanford Law School in the fall, while Nathan Barrymore, a philosophy, politics and economics (PPE) major, will join Teach for America, and enroll in graduate school.
"We are very proud of this first class of Robert Day Scholars," says dean Janet Smith. "They certainly exemplify the standards of this program."
CMC President Pamela Gann has said that the Day Scholars Program synthesizes a liberal arts education with professional aspirations in an uninterrupted combined program. "Robert Day's innovative vision is designed to educate some of the most talented young people in the world today with the best possible curriculum, internships, and leadership development for preparation to lead in a fast-changing world," she said.
Robert Day Scholars are provided with and actively participate in a rich program of co-curricular activities. These activities, including internship opportunities, networking trips, and workshops, are designed to provide students with an understanding of the importance of a strong ethical foundation in decision-making settings, and broaden their skills in areas such as leadership and communications.
Undergraduate students at Claremont McKenna College, or any of the other Claremont Colleges, can apply as a junior to become Scholars in their senior year.
Robert Day Scholars announced for the 2009-10 academic year are: Kyle Casella (CMC), Elizabeth Gorrell (SCR), Melanie Gularte (PIT), Joseph Jackson (CMC), Zain Jamal (CMC), Yu-Yu Lin (CMC), Maria Lohner (CMC), Aleksander Lyng (CMC), Jamie Matusiak (CMC), Nikolas Miller (CMC), James Paliga (CMC), Jonathan Simkin (HMC), Nicholas Sparks (CMC), Meghan Stenger (CMC), Christopher Strieter (HMC), Spencer Trooboff (CMC), Michael Widmann (CMC), and Yang (Amanda) Yang (CMC).