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Date: February 22, 1997
Davis McCallum, Andrea Rolla
Named Winners of 1997 Pyne Prize
Princeton, N.J. -- Davis McCallum of Atlanta, Ga., and Andrea Rolla of Dover, Mass., are the 1997 winners of the M. Taylor Pyne Prize, Princeton's highest honor for a graduating senior.
McCallum, an English major, was named a Rhodes Scholar last fall and will study Shakespeare at Oxford University next year. Rolla, a Romance languages major, is the current recipient of a Truman Scholarship. She plans to work as a teacher before pursuing a graduate degree in education.
The Pyne Prize is awarded annually to a member of the senior class who demonstrates excellence in scholarship, character and "effective support of the best interests of Princeton University." The prize was founded in 1921 as a memorial to the life and character of M. Taylor Pyne, a member of the Class of 1877 who later served as a member of Princeton's Board of Trustees. Winners of the prize receive a cash award equal to a year's tuition at Princeton; this year, that amount will be split between Rolla and McCallum.
Davis McCallum
McCallum, 22, arrived on campus and learned that Princeton did not have a Shakespeare Company. He founded the Princeton Shakespeare Company later in the spring of 1994. He spent the spring of 1996 traveling with the Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, a professional repertory company based in Virginia, and will earn a certificate in theater and dance.
To McCallum, the Pyne Prize represents Princeton's continuity. He recalled corresponding with a member of the Class of 1933 who had heard of his work with the Princeton Shakespeare Company. After McCallum learned he would receive the Pyne Prize, McCallum was given a list of previous winners and noticed the name of the letter writer, Dr. F. Tremaine Billings Jr. '33. "Receiving Dr. Billings' letter made me aware of the incredible history associated with this award. It is a great honor," McCallum said.
He credits Thomas P. Roche Jr., Murray Professor of English Literature, with serving as a mentor and influencing his approach to scholarship. McCallum is writing a senior thesis that will link media theory, Hollywood musicals and Shakespeare. At Oxford, he will enroll in a course of study, "Shakespeare and the Drama to 1640," that will lead to an M.Phil. He seeks a career that will allow him to act, write, teach and direct.
Andrea Rolla
Rolla, 21, is enrolled in the University's Teacher Preparation Program and this year taught a first-grade class at Riverside Elementary School in Princeton. Last year, she was a Quest Scholar and created a series of bilingual physics lessons that she taught to fifth-graders at Johnson Park Elementary School. She has been nominated for the Distinguished Teacher Candidate Award given each year by New Jersey's Commissioner of Education.
Rolla will write two senior theses. The first deals with dual immersion, the bilingual education method that puts students whose chief language is English in the same classroom with students whose first language is not English. Students become proficient in both languages. In her second paper, Rolla will translate several works of Silvina Ocampo, an Argentine writer who spent part of her life in Europe. Rolla, whose parents are from Argentina, identified with a writer who had strong ties to two cultures.
As part of her Truman Scholarship, Rolla will spend the summer in the Washington, D.C., area working for the U.S. Department of Education. After teaching this year, Rolla has decided to work before attending graduate school. She calls her experience at Riverside "amazing." The school's students are a diverse group, not only because of ethnic differences but also because of socioeconomic ones. Rolla has also worked with Apoyo, an organization that assists Latinos living in the Princeton area. Through Apoyo, Rolla plans to spend this semester working to ensure that the new Princeton Charter School will be able to serve Spanish-speaking students.
Rolla sees her award as a sign that Princeton honors all forms of public service, including teaching. "We're all united 'in the nation's service,' but we don't have to travel on the same path," she said.