College Names 2021 Lincoln Academy Student Laureate

Senior Sophie Hills is this year’s Lincoln Academy Student Laureate for Principia College. This state honor has been part of Illinois higher education for 47 years, and winners earn the prestigious Abraham Lincoln Civic Engagement Award.

Every year, the Lincoln Academy of Illinois accepts one senior student from each of the 68 four-year private and public colleges and universities throughout the state (plus one community college representative). The students are selected by their institutions for their outstanding academic achievement and civic engagement.

Hills was nominated as part of a campus-wide faculty nomination and selection process. Recipients demonstrate outstanding leadership and service in pursuit of the betterment of humanity in both curricular and extracurricular activities.

“The Lincoln Award allows us to showcase our highly talented students and acknowledge their skills and commitment to civic engagement,” says Academic Dean Dr. Meggan Madden. “With this year’s outstanding senior class, it was a very competitive pool.”

Hills majors in both music studies and political science and was nominated by the Music Department. Among her many contributions at the College, she has served as concertmaster since 2020 and has worked as a writer and now editor in chief of The Pilot—the college newspaper.

“I knew the last two recipients of the award and really looked up to them, so it was very humbling and very exciting to learn that I was selected,” Hills says. “When you are an underclassman looking up to the upperclassmen, you don’t see yourself as being in that role one day. But part of the award is community engagement, and as an aspiring journalist and poli-sci major, it’s something that I think about a lot. In my junior year, especially, I realized there are many ways that I can consciously contribute to this community that's given me so much.”

In the department’s nomination letter, Music Department Chair Dr. Joseph D. Van Riper wrote: “Sophie’s well-developed sense of ‘What does my community need of me?’ and her willingness and enthusiastic ability to fulfill the need is illustrative of JFK’s notable statement, ‘Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.’ Sophie exemplifies this type of largesse in citizenship, applying it equally to academics, extracurriculars, and service—always using her substantial talents and gifts to better her world.”

Hills will receive the Abraham Lincoln Civic Engagement Award later this year in a virtual celebration. Typically, Lincoln Academy Student Laureates receive their awards from the governor of Illinois and have the opportunity to meet with distinguished Lincoln Academy Laureates such as Washington Post columnist George Will; NFL linebacker Dick Butkus; and former Secretary of State, United States Senator, and First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. Despite the pandemic restrictions, each student laureate will receive a medallion, a certificate of achievement, and a modest monetary award.