Award Recognition
Indelible Mark
Senior Marshal
Richard H. Fox Memorial Prize
Prem Thakker feels blessed and heartened. During his first two years, he served as Class President, appreciating both advocating for policies to improve campus life, and hosting events to celebrate that same campus. Prem has had the joy of helping welcome new students through the Columbia Outdoor Orientation Program, as a leader of the program's 150-mile bike trip. He has also been involved as an actor and writer for "experimental" sketch comedy group Latenite; columnist for the Columbia Spectator; bartender through the Columbia Bartending Agency; volunteer in Morningside Park; and as a campus tour guide. Off-campus, Prem co-hosted an environmental history podcast alongside one of his favorite TA's— and has worked for CNN, the Theodore Roosevelt Presidential Library, his North Dakota hometown's city government, and the American Prospect magazine. Each opportunity has allowed Prem to meet truly wonderful people, and he is deeply grateful for it.
We live searching for the sublime, the something-something that makes you feel as alive as a human could. I've found that feeling here, within many of the marvelous people who make this institution the place it is: teachers, classmates, staff. What a joy, to know this feeling at all. I feel extraordinarily thankful to friends, family, and companions who have shared this spirit with me. May we each carry this warmth, forward and beyond. <3