Two students with a fervor for helping their peers have been honored this fall with the Franklin Miller Award.
Marissa Sun ’25 and Isabella Strickland ’26 each were recognized for their contributions that make a difference in the Kenyon community.
As Student Council president, Sun said she has tried to center student voices and ensure that her peers’ experiences at the College are equitable. Now serving her second consecutive year in the position, Sun said she is particularly proud to have worked toward a free laundry program for students that will launch in 2026.
Sun’s leadership extends far beyond student government, though, as she also serves as president of Kenyon Asian Identities and POCapella, an a cappella group for students of color. She sits on the boards of ECO (Environmental Campus Organization) and Planned Parenthood Generation Action and is involved in the K-STEM Peer Mentoring program that pairs first-year students interested in STEM fields with an upperclass mentor.
“I have a lot of different passions,” she said. “These interests pushed me to get involved in different organizations, and I stepped into leadership roles because I wanted these groups to thrive, often when there was a void or uncertainty.”
A psychology major with a biology minor and computer programming concentration, Sun has pursued these passions in her research, too, particularly in her work related to reproductive justice and racial biases with Associate Professor of Psychology Margaret Stevenson. She has presented her research at several conferences and co-wrote an op-ed in a Knox County media outlet.
In nominating Sun for the Franklin Miller Award, Stevenson said the senior has used her skills to make remarkable contributions to the entire campus community.
“Marissa is an extremely intelligent, motivated student who is passionate about research and public service,” she said. “Her impressive initiative, work-ethic and ambition have generated impressive outcomes — in the classroom, in the lab and throughout the entire Kenyon campus.”
Sun, who hails from outside Chicago and who also does research in the lab of Assistant Professor of Biology Kamesh Regmi, hopes to attend law school one day and will be working as a paralegal in New York City after graduation.
Strickland is excited to help her peers on a regular basis through her work at the Writing Center. While it’s natural for students to arrive feeling nervous and vulnerable, she hopes their interactions leave them feeling more confident and successful.
“I really enjoy working together to problem solve,” Strickland said. “One of my favorite things is when I am trying to give suggestions and then all of a sudden you see something click in the writer and they’re like, ‘Oh wait, I actually know what to do.’ And then they write sentences 10 times better than what I was trying to play with.”
Creating an environment that feeds on collaboration is important to Strickland — and part of what she thinks makes Kenyon so special.
“A lot of selective schools seem to have a bit of a cutthroat environment, whereas Kenyon, when I toured, seemed more of ‘Let’s all help each other succeed.’”
A psychology major from North Carolina, she brings her STEM background to the Writing Center and is part of its Bio Squad specializing in science writing. When she’s not helping others write — or writing herself — Strickland enjoys being part of the Women’s Rugby Club, serving in her third year as part of the Kenyon Review Associates Program, and playing Dungeons & Dragons.
Writing Center Director Anna Scanlon called Strickland a hard worker, both as a student in class and in her capacity as a tutor.
“Strickland is an effective communicator who gets others excited about whatever it is she is sharing,” she said. “Her work one-on-one with writers and speakers proves Strickland can take initiative and complete the job independently, often so well that she has writers return for additional support.”
A contributor to multiple psychology labs, Strickland looks forward to bringing her communication skills to a career in research in a way that contributes to making complex findings more understandable — and therefore impactful.
The Franklin Miller Awards are given to students who make unusual or significant contributions to the academic environment of the College. The awards are named for Franklin Miller Jr., a longtime member of the faculty and a distinguished physicist, teacher and textbook author.
The awards were established by Edward T. “Chip” Ordman ’64, who credits receiving a modest, named award as a student with helping him get into graduate school. The award is meant to give that same small, but meaningful, encouragement to deserving students whose efforts and ingenuity make a difference in the life of the Kenyon community.
Nominations are accepted in September and March of each year.