Among top prizes, Delbert “Del” Gonzales ’25 received the James Soper Merrill Prize, awarded to the member of the graduating class “who, in character and influence, has typified the highest ideals of the College.” The winner is selected by the faculty and speaks at Commencement.
Mohammad “Isa” Khan ’26 received the Fillius Drown Prize Scholarship, awarded to a student completing the junior year who has been very successful academically, who has demonstrated outstanding leadership qualities while at Hamilton, and who is likely to make a significant contribution to society in the future.
View Award Recipients Watch Ceremony
Delbert Gonzales ’25
The James Soper Merrill Prize Recipient
Delbert Gonzales, a theatre major from Lafayette, La., is part of Hamilton's Opportunity Programs, is a community advisor, Oral Communications Center tutor, a member of the Buffers, and previously served as co-artistic director of Untitled@Large. In April, he competed in the Oral Communication Center’s Public Speaking Competition, winning the 2025 Warren E. Wright Prize for his speech titled “The Disappearance of Play: Understanding What We Lose.”
Delbert “Del” Gonzales ’25
Major: Theatre
Hometown: Lafayette, La.
Gonzales studied abroad at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts (UK), “the first Hamilton student in more than a decade to be accepted into this rigorous and prestigious program,” according to a faculty member who nominated him for the James Soper Merrill Prize. Another nominator added, “Del’s involvement in a variety of activities across campus demonstrates that he has someone who can take the best that Hamilton has to offer and to give his best back to Hamilton.”
Another faculty member wrote, “Del’s background in theatre brought a different perspective to our work with students, and he has consistently, respectfully, challenged some of my assumptions about how to do our work. He is willing to discuss and debate ideas, and to change his mind when new information comes to light.”
Other excerpts from nomination letters for Del Gonzales:
- “I have known him since his first day at Hamilton and can say with confidence that Del ‘has best typified the highest ideals of the College’ both ‘in character and influence.’ Del is an outstanding scholar, mentor, advocate, and community member who brings out the best in all those around him and places others before himself. In all my years at Hamilton, I have never met a student so richly deserving of this award. It is a privilege to know him.”
- “Watching Del perform on stage is awe inspiring. He truly does become the character; those who know him can see all the highly specific ways he embodies the changes. He brings a depth to his acting that demonstrates how thoughtful he is in his everyday life.”
- “Del’s positive influence and mentoring skills have been consistently recognized since he began at Hamilton. In 2021, he volunteered as a tutor for the Clinton Middle School homework club, offering struggling students academic support as well as fostering their confidence and empowerment. Choosing to spend his limited time in this way shows Del’s attentiveness to the educational advantages he’s had and his generosity in sharing them with others.”
- “He is tireless in his pursuit of knowledge and experience, and his energy is infectious. He is an excellent writer, academically, and is unfailingly able to synthesize the readings, course activities, and writings in ways that are nuanced and indicative of a deep and abiding ability and desire to think critically.”
Mohammad “Isa” Khan ’26
The Milton F. Fillius, Jr./Joseph Drown Prize Scholarship Recipient
A senior digital media tutor in LITS and a physics tutor in the Quantitative and Symbolic Reasoning Center, Khan and Adam Lark, director of Hamilton’s Peters Observatory, co-authored a paper about the existence of exoplanets (planets that are orbiting around other stars) published in December, 2024 in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Journal. “In a very real sense, Isa took part in the discovery and confirmation of a new planet,” Lark said. They also co-authored a paper with Amelie Heving ’27 and Beibei Chen ’25 that will soon appear in the Astronomical Journal.
Mohammad “Isa” Khan ’26
Majors: Physics and Mathematics
Hometown: Dhaka, Bangladesh
“Isa is a remarkable student,” said Lark, with whom Khan has conducted research since 2023. “He won't just take on any project that he thinks is too straightforward, he will look for a project that challenges and excites him no matter the difficulty. He is the kind of student who will take something that I would consider to be graduate level work that should take a month, and turn it over in the course of a week. As a professor I have a hard time keeping up with him,” Lark said.
An administrator who nominated Khan for The Fillius /Drown Prize wrote, “In addition to excelling academically, Isa actively engages in substantial research across astrophysics, experimental physics, and mathematics. His collaborative research efforts with distinguished faculty members, including Professors Adam Lark, Viva Horowitz, and Courtney Gibbons, underscore his versatility and commitment to advancing scientific knowledge.”
The nominator acknowledged that “Isa’s research has led to publications in prestigious journals. ... This level of scholarly activity and success is exemplary for a student at this stage of his academic career.”
A nominator pointed out that Khan contributes to the Physics Department through service and outreach activities, such as organizing and facilitating popular stargazing events that engage the broader campus community and foster a deeper appreciation for astronomy. “Additionally, as a telescope technician supporting astronomy courses, Isa demonstrates leadership, technical proficiency, and a genuine passion for scientific education,” the nominator wrote.
“Isa Khan embodies the spirit and values of the Fillius/Drown Prize Scholarship, blending academic excellence, impactful research, and meaningful community involvement. He is deeply committed not only to advancing scientific discovery but also to leveraging his research to benefit society broadly,” a nominator wrote.
Associate Professor of Philosophy Justin Clark
Class & Charter Day Keynote Speaker
Clark spoke about “The ethics of self-promotion” from a philosophical standpoint. “Being human, we have a tendency … toward prioritizing money, status, and reputation above all other things. This… is our default setting, according to Socrates. But our default setting will lead us astray.
“If we leave ourselves unexamined, uncorrected, then we will operate on a mistaken set of priorities,” Clark warned.
Justin Clark
Associate Professor of Philosophy
Faculty Profile
“For Socrates, to recognize this fact is to ‘know thyself.’ It is to know that money, status, and reputation are not top priority. … there are other ingredients that are more conducive to human flourishing, more essential to happiness.
“For Socrates, these are the content of our character. The quality of our relationships. Our character and our relationships actually matter more to human flourishing,” Clark said.
“Most importantly … the only way to improve our character and the quality of our relationships is to search for truth … together as a community. In a cooperative spirit, with minimal self-promotion. That last part is key.
“Now, Socrates was willing to sacrifice everything for this one educational lesson. To ‘know thyself’ is to know which values are so central to your flourishing that you would be willing to sacrifice even your pocketbook …This is the lesson that hides beneath our college motto.
“If we are to make important discoveries… about ourselves, about each other, and about the world we live in, we need all voices to be heard. We need the significance of every perspective to be registered. We need each other.
“If Hamilton College is to shine as an institution, it will not be because of any status we enjoy, or even any huge endowment, or any so-called ‘prestige.’ Those things are nice. But they only serve… to support something much bigger and better.
“It’s our community…We are surrounded every day by other capable and curious human beings who want to understand each other, and how the world works…. That’s the fabric of an academic community. If you are truly able to shine, at Hamilton, or beyond Hamilton, it will have very little to do with the awards or achievements on your resume, or the prestige of the college you went to, or the rankings. It will be because you learned how to contribute to a community of this caliber.
“[Awards]… may be an indication that you are capable of shining. Go ahead and shine, promote yourself ... But know that self-promotion, when done really well, means shining for other people,” Clark said.
“Marcus Aurelius, the ancient Stoic, inspired by Socrates, once said ‘[he who] does not transmit light [for others], merely serves to create [his] own darkness.’ Let us not create darkness, friends. Let us go out and shine for others. That’s part of what an education at Hamilton should teach us to do.”
