Rollins Inducts 26 New Members of Phi Beta Kappa

The latest cohort of Rollins students join 17 U.S. presidents, 42 U.S. Supreme Court justices, and more than 150 Nobel Laureates as members of Phi Beta Kappa (PBK), the nation’s oldest and most prestigious academic honor society. Less than 1 percent of all college students in the U.S. qualify for acceptance, with members undergoing a highly selective, merit-based invitation process. Membership recognizes their status among the best and brightest liberal arts and sciences undergraduate students in the nation.

Presiding over the installation and induction ceremony were MacKenzie Moon Ryan, Rollins’ Theta Chapter president and art history professor; PBK vice president and English professor Ben Hudson; PBK historian and psychology professor Alice Davidson; PBK secretary and biology professor Sabrice Guerrier; and distinguished speaker Tina Osceola ’89, Seminole Tribe executive director of operations.

“Celebrating the founding of PBK and the founding of the United States 250 years ago urges us all to reflect on the values we bring forth from the past and the values that will define us to future generations,” shares Moon Ryan. “Both PBK and Rollins prize freedom of inquiry and the capacity to ask complex questions and seek answers pulled from a diversity of thought. As the oldest and most prestigious honors society in the liberal arts, Phi Beta Kappa embraces both breadth and depth of scholarly pursuits and is a national advocate for the liberal arts and sciences.”

During her address, Osceola reflected warmly on her time at Rollins—being challenged by her political science professors, taking her first trip abroad, and engaging with peers whose experiences, upbringings, and worldviews differed from her own. The love of learning, openness to inquiry, and humble curiosity she cultivated at Rollins continue to shape her leadership, guiding her today as a steadfast leader for the Seminole Tribe.

Osceola was the first alumna inducted into the Theta Chapter of Florida, an honor strictly limited by PBK nationals. In addition to speaking at the ceremony, she visited Zack Gilmore’s anthropology class, connected with political science professors and students over lunch, and met with the new inductees, encouraging them to consider whose shoulders they stand on and the responsibility of carrying shared values forward.

This year’s 26 Phi Beta Kappa inductees make for a total of 116 Tars thus far to earn a spot in the Theta Chapter at Rollins, which is part of an distinguished set of less than 10 percent of colleges in the U.S.—and only seven others in Florida—to shelter a chapter of Phi Beta Kappa.

2026 Student Phi Beta Kappa Inductees

• Sofia Bella Baker ’26, Environmental studies and Spanish
• Emily Barcelo ’26, Sociology
• Francis Alexander Brewster ’26, International relations
• Alexandria Evangelista ’26, Spanish and international relations
• Quinn Fuse ’26, Physics and music
• Makenna Morrison Gary ’26, Biology and environmental studies
• Riley Hammericksen ’26, Critical media & cultural studies
• Katherine Anna Hamner ’26, Classical studies
• Ella Mary Juengst ’26, Theatre arts and psychology
• Emma Mae McAdoo ’26, Psychology and music
• Brynna McDonald ’26, History
• Ana Mentucci ’26, International relations and philosophy
• Bella Naples ’26, Environmental studies
• Em Nguyen ’26, Chemistry and philosophy
• Shatien Xing Nichoson ’25, English and art history
• Evelyn May Nielsen ’26, Critical media & cultural studies
• Joseph David Pool ’26, Public policy & political economy
• Michelle Angel Polo ’26, Environmental studies and Latin American & Caribbean studies
• Alessia Francesca Prenda ’26, Theatre arts and anthropology
• Kalen Camille Roberts ’26, Biochemistry & molecular biology
• Lindsey Elizabeth Rose Scanlan ’26, Philosophy
• Emma Elizabeth Scott ’26, Computer science
• Amit Sewnauth ’26, Critical media & cultural studies
• Hannah Sheppard ’26, Art history
• Julia St. John ’26, Studio art
• Zoe Kathryn Vanderstelt ’26, Biochemistry & molecular biology