2026 Leadership and Excellence Awards

The Leadership and Excellence Awards recognize students from Columbia College and Columbia Engineering each spring for their achievements and their dedication to their campus communities. This year, more than 80 students were honored at the April 23 ceremony, held at Faculty House. For seniors, these awards illustrate the time and effort they’ve contributed during their College years. In the weeks leading up to Class Day, five reflected on the journeys they’ve taken, how they’ve developed into leaders and how they’re preparing for their next chapters.

Indelible Mark, Senior Marshal

For many, a budget meeting to allocate funding is probably not at the top of a list of fun things to do. But Gimenez, a member of the Activities Board at Columbia (ABC) since his first year, found it an invigorating experience.

“It’s a lot of political and mathematical work,” he says. “But it’s incredible, like — that is true discourse. I’ve learned how to empathize with people and think about how to best serve everyone together.”

Gimenez, a creative writing major, was treasurer and president of ABC, and says that his time overseeing and distributing funding for student groups was one of the highlights of his College years.

“It was just fantastic, a real learning experience not only in understanding operations and my own skills, but also in how to solve obstacles outside of my skill set,” Gimenez says.

He has plans for law school eventually, but says he’s looking forward to taking a year to be a paralegal and soak up time with his tight-knit group of friends before they all embark on their next chapters.

Community Building, Senior Marshal

Massel’s penchant for storytelling and journalism began in the third grade, when she started a student newspaper. Since then, the political science major with a history concentration has continued to cultivate a love for sharing and spotlighting the stories of others, most recently as an editor at Spectator and as student body president of Columbia/Barnard Hillel.

“I love connecting with people and hearing about their experiences,” Massel says. “My sources put a lot of trust in me to tell their stories, and I’m really honored by that.”

She’s learned how to let her principles and beliefs be a grounding force in her leadership and has facilitated community through sharing stories of grief, joy and everything in between. She was this year’s recipient of the Richard H. Fox Memorial Prize, given for “[combining] intelligence with a kindly interest in [her] fellows.” Massel says she’s been especially proud to have been part of the team that leads the annual Mega Shabbat with Hillel, the largest Shabbat dinner on campus, with 1,300 attendees. She also lit the menorah for Hanukkah with Hillel and Chabad, which she considers one of her most memorable experiences on campus.

“The biggest lesson I’ll take with me is how to know myself and stand by my values, especially in the face of adversity,” Massel says.

Civic Responsibility, Senior Marshal

As president of the Pakistani Students Association, Ali is probably the only student group president who’s been tasked with the logistics of bringing a horse onto campus.

“Our big event is Hungama, where we throw a mock wedding celebration with NYU’s PSA. We provide the bride and they provide the groom, and the groom rides a horse onto campus and then to Low Library,” Ali says. “It’s a huge party. There’s a DJ, food and dancing — I planned it from start to finish in my junior year.”

A double major in history and Middle Eastern, South Asian and African studies, Ali spent his time at the College pursuing his dual passions. He enjoys moments when the two intersect, like in a podcast he helped produce for the Arnold A. Saltzman Institute for War and Peace Studies, where he put together an episode on the 2025 India-Pakistan conflict.

Ali was also involved with Spectator in his first two years on campus and was deputy editor of the graphics desk, where he helped cover major campus moments.

“Columbia is a global university; when something happens [elsewhere] in the world, it affects us in different ways,” Ali says. “Spec taught me that and forced me to think about how to find the Columbia connection.”

Columbia Spirit, Senior Marshal

Ratan says she learned a lot from her time on the Undergraduate Recruitment Committee (URC) — how to connect with prospective students, give campus tours and tell some pretty great jokes.

“I think I’ve perfected my stand-up routine at this point,” she says.

In addition to her work with URC, Ratan made her mark on other organizations across campus while developing her leadership skills. She was the editor-in-chief of the Columbia Undergraduate Law Review, chair of the Columbia History Association and a lead organizer with the Reproductive Justice Collective.

“I don’t see a difference between myself and the people I’m leading,” she says. “Being part of these groups has been a great exercise in horizontal connection building.”

A history major with a concentration in public health, Ratan has been focused on learning more about social movements and the role of community organizing in effecting change, which she hopes will lead to a career in public interest law. But she was eager to celebrate graduation with her community before moving on.

“It feels so bittersweet,” she says. “My College experience has been exactly the way I imagined it.”

Health & Wellness

As a New Student Orientation Program leader, Fergus was one of the first faces that new students saw when they got to campus, and she took that role seriously.

“It warms my heart knowing that they were able to arrive at a nice, welcoming place, so that when they started life on campus they knew whom they could ask questions of and feel comfortable,” she says.

Fergus’ desire to help others extended to her academic career; a biology major, she did research at Northwestern and Johns Hopkins that focused on clinical trials and increasing representation of the Black community in medicine. She also used those experiences to inform her student work with Columbia Students for Health Education, Access and Literacy and while she was the physical and mental health committee chair of the Rho Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Her presentations to high school students and her sorority touched on mental health and well-being alongside physical health topics.

Fergus found ways to give back to herself as well, finding a creative outlet in photography. She was a photographer for Spectator and a deputy editor for the newspaper’s arts and culture section.

“I’ve let my interests guide me to hobbies that I wouldn’t ordinarily get to do [in my studies],” Fergus says. “It’s been great to explore that realm.”