Six Athletes Among Initiates to Phi Beta Kappa

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – Six Carnegie Mellon University student-athletes were selected for spring initiation into the Upsilon of Pennsylvania chapter of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. The induction ceremony took place on May 11.

The six student-athletes joining the Carnegie Mellon chapter are softball player Emily Finger, men's track athlete Verne Garin, men's basketball player Nick Nakasian, women's track and field athlete Ola Owodunni, women's diver Emilia Schwallie and men's soccer player Mason Shockley.

“It has been an incredible year for Carnegie Mellon Athletics, and having six student-athletes inducted into Phi Beta Kappa is another momentous day for our program,” said Director of Athletics Josh Centor, who was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa in 2004. “I am so proud of these six inductees to the oldest and most prestigious academic honor society in the country. They have achieved at stratospheric levels during their time at Carnegie Mellon – academically and athletically – and I know this honor means so much to all of them.”

Phi Beta Kappa is the nation’s oldest honor society, which was founded in 1776, with chapters at 293 institutions of higher education across the country. Formed from the initials of the Greek motto Philosophia Biou Kybernetes, which translates to “Love of wisdom, the guide of life,” Phi Beta Kappa values intellectual honesty and tolerance. With these qualities established as the standards for election, about 10 percent of college students nationwide receive an invitation to join the prestigious honor society.