Eleanor Richard ’25 may be one of the top 1% of seniors in the Cornell University College of Engineering, but she shares a common thread with other top-performing students who shared testimonials about their high school mentors this week: She was really “scared and intimidated” in her first high school classes.

“I feel really lucky to have had Ms. Ginnie Quarry for my high school math teacher,” said Richard, an applied and engineering physics major in Cornell Engineering who attended McLean High School in McLean, Virginia. “She made me feel so welcome and made me feel like I belonged in STEM.”

Richard is among the nearly 50 Merrill Scholars who gathered at the 37th annual Merrill Presidential Scholars luncheon May 20 at Willard Straight Hall. They celebrated the high school teacher or mentor with the greatest influence on their early education and the Cornell faculty or staff member who contributed most significantly to their college experience. The scholars are graduating seniors selected by deans of the university’s 10 undergraduate colleges and schools based on outstanding scholastic achievement, evidence of leadership and their desire to positively affect the world beyond Cornell.

The high school mentors came from 15 U.S. states, China, Nigeria, France and Canada. Among the mentors honored were 11 math teachers, seven history teachers, two principals, three guidance counselors and a personal mentor. President Michael I. Kotlikoff welcomed the mentors in opening remarks.

Credit: Jacob Mroczek/Student and Campus Life

Cornell brings the high school educators and mentors to the Ithaca campus, all expenses paid, for the two-day program, which consists of an informal dinner with students and other high school mentors, a professional development program led by Cornell staff on a topic of broad interest and the celebratory luncheon. 

During the ceremony, each college and school dean took to the stage to recognize students and their impact at Cornell. Students then had the opportunity to publicly thank the people they chose to honor.

Noah Courtney ’25, a biological sciences major in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, credited his mentor, biology teacher Professor Jaclyn Madden of Harford Community College in Maryland, for helping him envision a new future with one simple phrase.

“She said, ‘You’re thinking like a researcher,’” said Courtney, who is a U.S. Coast Guard veteran and established Cornell’s academic honor for student veterans. He was named Cornell’s National Leadership Fellow to the National Veterans Leadership Foundation.

“I failed out of college in 2016. I joined the military. I did things a little bit differently. And now I get to pursue a Ph.D,” Courtney said.

Nneoma Udoyeh ’25, an applied economics and management major with a strategy concentration in the Charles H. Dyson School of Applied Economics and Management, honored Rev. Sr. Matilda Adeboye, principal of the Louisville Girls High School in Nigeria, for teaching her the value of the often-unheralded routines of work that lead to success.

“Being extraordinary requires a lot of boring stuff,” Udoyeh said, “like waking up early and doing the same thing over and over. She made me appreciate that and completely changed the trajectory of my life and how much I trust myself.” Udoyeh has served on the Student Advisory Council for Cornell Tradition, a scholarship and service-based program. She has also contributed an exercise and wellness column to Prisoner Express, a program operated through the Alternatives Library at Cornell, which produces and distributes a newsletter twice a year and provides books to incarcerated individuals.

The late Philip Merrill ’55 created the Merrill program in 1988 to recognize outstanding educators who prepare students for college and help them succeed at Cornell.

“My father started this program with Cornell President Frank Rhodes at a time when Cornell was focused to a concerning degree on chasing large research grants,” said Nancy Merrill Sullivan ’96. “They wanted an annual reminder to the university leadership of the importance of great teaching.”

Since 1989, Special Teachers Are Recognized (STAR) Scholarships named in honor of the teachers recognized by Merrill Scholars have been awarded to Cornell students with financial need from each scholar’s hometown, a program established by Margi Berens ’47 and the late Don Berens ’47. 

Elizabeth Knox ’25, a global and public health sciences major in the College of Human Ecology, said her high school mentor, history teacher Suzanne Mosca of Horace Greeley High School in Chappaqua, New York, taught her students to look behind personal aspirations for learning and to find ways to positively engage with their communities.

“Ms. Mosca lives to teach. Sitting in Ms. Mosca’s class, I was not only encouraged to pursue all my intellectual interests, but I was encouraged to use my education to benefit the world around me,” said Knox. “She encourages her students to be civic leaders. She taught us to evaluate the world around us and look inwards for how we can improve that world.”

Bryan Chambala is a communications lead for Student and Campus Life.

The full list of 2025 Merrill Scholars can be found here.