Student Awards

Prytanean Student Awards

We now fund four Leadership Awards through CAA.

Mary Wiley Stecker and Prytanean Scholarship Awards

These are Endowed Leadership Scholarships created from the bequest of Mary Wiley Stecker, Class of 1938. The first awards were given in Fall 2011.

Rowena Hamilton Award

The Rowena Hamilton Award, established by Prytanean Alumnae in 1995, assists women undergraduate student athletes who are active in Cal Athletics. The purpose of the award is to recognize athletic ability, community service, and academic performance.

Prytanean Prize

The annual award is given to a UC Berkeley female student with junior standing and recognizes campus and community service as well as academic excellence. A GPA of 3.2 is required.

Ritter Prize

This annual award is given to a Prytanean woman of senior standing in recognition of her service to Prytanean, the UC Berkeley campus and the community.

Award Winners

2021

In the 2021-2022 academic year, Prytanean honored several women who uphold Prytanean’s ideals of community service and leadership.

Mary Wiley Stecker and Prytanean Scholarship Awards
This year’s award recipients were:

• The Mary Wiley Stecker and Prytanean Women in Architecture and Technology Award: Davita Verma, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research ’25
• The Mary Wiley Stecker and Prytanean Women in the College of Letters and Science Award: Avani Shah, Molecular and Cell Biology ’23
• The Mary Wiley Stecker and Prytanean Women in Engineering Award: Natalie Celt, Bioengineering ’22, Kaiyuan Liu, Industrial Engineering and Operations Research ’22
• The Mary Wiley Stecker and Prytanean Women in Math and Science Award: Jasmine Crawford, Physics and Mathematics ’24, Defne Karabatur, Applied Mathematics ’23

Rowena Hamilton Award
This year’s Rowena Hamilton Award recipient was: Brynn Zorilla, a senior who is the Team Captain for Field Hockey.

2019 

Rowena Hamilton Award

This year’s Rowena Hamilton Memorial Award goes to: Ezinne Abba, a sprinter on Cal’s Track and Field Team.

2018

Mary Wiley Stecker Scholarship Awards
​In 2018, Prytanean funded a record eight CAA Leadership Awards for female students. These were all made possible by a bequest from Mary Wiley Stecker, Class of 1938. The recipients were:

• For the College of Letters and Science Award: Qiao Qing Ji (Integrative Biology) and Carly Kajiwara (Psychology)
• For the Engineering Award: Sneha Malineni (Business Administration and Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences) and Annam Quraishi (Bioengineering)
• For the Math and Science Award: Janaki Vivrekar (Applied Mathematics and Computer Science) and Avanti Mehrotra (Applied Mathematics and Cognitive Science)
• For the Architecture and Technology Award: Avanthika Ramesh (Business Administration and Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences) and Garima Raheja (Business Administration and Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences)

Prytanean Prize, which recognizes a female junior for campus and community service, as well as academic excellence, was awarded to Anita Adams.

Rowena Hamilton Award went to Samantha Lamos, a member of the Women’s Crew team, studying Society and Environment and Public Policy.

2017

Prytanean Prize

• Leilani Martinez and Marisal Gonzalez for their commitment and service to campus activities and women’s empowerment.

Ritter Prize 

•  Isabella Brandes, Prytanean President, for her contributions to student life and health initiatives across campus.

Rowena Hamilton Award

• Danielle Struck, Cal Women’s Crew Team

Mary Wiley Stecker Scholarship Awards

• Anna Leskova and Samantha Wu in Math and Science;
• Sarah Bhattacharjee and Kimberly Mejia in Engineering; and
• Dulce Walton Molina and Cecelia DiMino in the College of Letters and Science.

2016

Prytanean Prize

• Isabella Brandes who has been a leader in the effort to combat sexual violence and to reduce the negative impact of campus “party culture” on women. She initiated and wrote the ASUC Alcohol Accountability Bill and has served on the Party Safe at Cal team, educating thousands of her fellow students about alcohol risk reduction. In addition, she has served the community beyond Cal through her work with the City of Berkeley to develop policy focused on eliminating alcohol-related mortality rates and by participating in a mentorship program for high school students. This year Isabella

Ritter Prize

• Courtney Sarkin took on a leadership role in promoting and coordinating the Empower Me Gallery event last year and was a Program Assistant in the Gender Equity Resource Center, where she was involved in developing programs to create a safe, equitable and inclusive experience for all Cal students. Courtney was a member of the ASUC Sexual Assault Commission, a Fellow in Cal in Sacramento, completed an independent research project on LGBTQ breast cancer patients, and served as a Health Advocate Volunteer at Highland Hospital.

Rowena Hamilton Award

• Cara Bohmann, a member of Women’s Crew, was recognized for her community service and academic performance, as well as her athletic ability. She was part of the varsity 4 that won the Sydney International Rowing Regatta and on the First Team Pac-12 All Academic Team.

Mary Wiley Stecker Scholarship Awards

Mary Wiley Stecker – CAA Leadership Award scholarships to four women students.

• Tasha Culhane-Husain, majoring in Business;
• Angela Lin, majoring in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science;
• Bhavna Gopal a senior majoring in Engineering,
• and Julie Liu.

2012

Rowena Hamilton Award

• Robin Rostratter, a defensive specialist for the California Volleyball team. To support Robin and to honor our young alumnae, a group of Prytanean alums attended the Cal volleyball match vs. Arizona State on October 28, 2012.

Mary Wiley Stecker Scholarship Awards

• Sammy Mehtar (’16), Nishtha Bhatt (’14) and Jenny Pierson (’14).