The following students were honored for their achievements at Columbia College during the 2025 Class Day ceremony on May 20.
Fatima Ahmad, Charles M. Rolker Prize
The Charles M. Rolker Prize is awarded to the member of the Columbia College graduating class who is judged by classmates to be most worthy of special distinction because of scholarship, participation in student activities, or any combination thereof.
Graduating with a degree in Middle Eastern, South Asian and African studies and a concentration in education studies, Ahmad has worked both on and off campus in roles that strengthen communities and deepen international scholarship.
While a student, she was a resident adviser in East Campus, a research assistant for Isabel Huacuja Alonso and the managing editor for the Columbia Journal of Asia.
Ahmad was chosen for special research programs like the Laidlaw Scholars, the Saltzman Undergraduate Scholars in the School of International and Public Affairs and the Global Politics Scholars in the Institute of Global Politics. She also received a Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship from the U.S. Department of Education to study Urdu.
Off campus, she worked at the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, specializing in hate crime cases, and in the offices of Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), the Consulate General of Pakistan in New York, and the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Last summer, she was an adviser to the Permanent Mission of Pakistan to the United Nations, where she attended meetings and wrote reports for Security Council meetings and First Committee Affairs of the General Assembly.
Ashley Pelham, James J. Valentini Prize
The James J. Valentini Prize is awarded to a graduating senior who demonstrates the qualities of Beginner’s Mind through their curiosity for and desire to learn from different perspectives. The award is named in honor of Dean Emeritus of Columbia College James J. Valentini.
Pelham graduated with a degree in film and media studies with a special program in business management. During her time at the College, she took on roles that fostered community-building and learning experiences for students.
She was the president of the Carman Hall Council and worked in the Office of Undergraduate Admissions, where she accepted increasing responsibilities to create meaningful connections with prospective students and their families. As president of the Music Industry Club, Pelham created opportunities for students to explore creative careers and built an inclusive community that promotes unity across diverse identities as president of Alpha Chi Omega sorority.
Off campus, she was an intern at Warner Brothers and Universal Music Group. Pelham will attend UCLA for law school and plans to pursue a career as an entertainment attorney.
Shaurir Anirudh Ramanujan, Albert Asher Green Memorial Prize
The Albert Asher Green Memorial Prize was established by Mr. and Mrs. Asher Green in memory of their son, Albert, Class of 1914. This prize is awarded to the senior who has been a student in good standing in the College and who has made the best record of scholarship.
Ramanujan studied financial economics with a special concentration in sustainable development. He was a junior inductee of Phi Beta Kappa, the co-editor-in-chief of the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review and a teaching assistant for the course “Principles of Economics.”
His interest in climate, finance and law led to research that has spanned Columbia’s schools of Business, Climate and Law. As a fellow in the Business School’s Climate Knowledge Initiative, Ramanujan studied pathways to decarbonization across various industries. He was also part of communities on campus, including the Hindu Students Organization, the Office of Religious Life, Columbia’s oldest student-run hedge fund and Columbia Sur, the University’s South Asian fusion a cappella group.
Outside of his studies, Ramanujan co-founded “Money Talks,” a United Nations-recognized initiative to promote financial literacy among high school students in New York City. He is a United Nations Millennium Fellow and a Rhodes Scholarship finalist, and has interned at multinational law firms and financial institutions focused on corporate governance and sustainable investing.
Ronil Awalegaonkar, David B. Truman Alumni Award
The David B. Truman Award is presented to the Columbia College student who has made the most distinguished contribution to the academic affairs of the College. It was established in 1970 in honor of David B. Truman, former dean of the College.
Awalegaonkar graduated as a financial economics major with a concentration in mathematics. He was a junior inductee of Phi Beta Kappa, a John Jay Scholar, a two-time Summer Enhancement Fellowship Awardee and a United Nations Millennium Fellow.
Dedicated to serving and representing his community, he was a teaching assistant in the Department of Mathematics for the courses “Ordinary Differential Equations” and “Accounting & Finance.” He was a board member for the Columbia Undergraduate Scholars Program Alliance, a co-chair of Seniors for the Columbia College Fund, and a student representative on the Committee on Instruction, the College’s principal curriculum committee.
Passionate about creating a sustainable world through finance, Awalegaonkar pursued research through the Business School on bank lending practices and net zero commitments; through the Department of Applied Physics and Applied Mathematics on adaptive mesh refinement algorithms that can be used to model storms and hurricanes; and through the Economic Complexity Research Lab on economic production paths.
He also served as CEO of a student-run investment fund, as president of the Investment Banking Division of Columbia Alpha Partners, as president of Scholars of Finance and as president of Columbia University Impact Investing Network.
Awalegaonkar plans to work in investment banking in New York City.
Mariana E. Henriquez Bado, Alumni Prize
The Alumni Prize is awarded by the Columbia College Alumni Association to the Columbia College senior judged by classmates to be the most faithful and deserving.
Henriquez Bado, who is from Atlanta, graduated after a course of study in psychology and business management. She was a Kluge Scholar and a Hispanic Scholarship Fund scholar.
As an undergraduate, Henriquez Bado was president of the Student Ambassadors for Columbia College Alumni, an event committee member for Seniors for the Columbia College Fund and a Columbia Mentoring Initiative mentor for the Latinx Family Tree. Previously, she had been a member of both the Executive Committee and the Operational Committee of the Multicultural Business Association. In 2022, she was public relations chair for the Latinx Graduation Committee.
Henriquez Bado completed internships at NBCUniversal and American Express, and is currently at the Walt Disney Co. as a Disney+ Affiliate marketing intern.
Isabella Sophia Ramírez, Robert Lincoln Carey Memorial Prize
The Robert Lincoln Carey Memorial Prize is awarded annually by the Columbia College Alumni Association to the Columbia College senior who, demonstrating admirable academic achievement along with other outstanding achievements at the College, best exemplifies the ideals that Robert Lincoln Carey sought to engender in the students of Columbia College.
Ramírez graduated with a major in sociology and a minor in Hispanic studies. She joined Spectator in Fall 2021 as a University news reporter specializing in issues of diversity, equity and inclusion at Columbia. In 2024, she became the newspaper’s 148th editor-in-chief and president, spearheading internationally recognized coverage of protests and campus turmoil over the war in Gaza. The National Association of Hispanic Journalists named her the 2024 National Student of the Year for her leadership.
Outside of Spectator, Ramírez has worked for The Daily Beast, POLITICO and NBC News. She also was a 2022 National Youth Poet Laureate finalist, representing the United States as an ambassador for poetry, civic engagement and social impact.
Ramírez held multiple positions at Columbia, including as a CC Undergraduate Research Fellow and Under1Roof facilitator, and completed a senior thesis on student journalism.
Oscar Luckett, Alumni Association Achievement Award
The Alumni Association Achievement Award is awarded annually to the member of the Columbia College senior class who is judged to be most outstanding for qualities of mind, character and service to the College.
Luckett graduated with a major in American studies. As a member of the University Senate, he served on the Student Affairs Committee and the Rules of University Conduct Committee, where he worked to strengthen the University’s system of shared governance by advocating for administrative transparency, expanded campus resources and access, and more robust student representation.
A native Brooklynite, Luckett has been deeply engaged in local politics as a policy aide for his city councilmember, organizing for tenants' rights in Morningside Heights and West Harlem, and holding a seat on his neighborhood Community Board.
He has also been a member of The Eric H. Holder Jr. Initiative for Civil and Political Rights Student Advisory Board, led Gadfly’s interviews team and was a teaching assistant for the Freedom and Citizenship program, where he guided NYC high school students through a seminar on philosophy and civics.