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AP Editor, Filmmaker Address Graduates
 Kevin Noblet '75, a seasoned journalist who has led two Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative projects, and Tamara Tiehel Stedman '86, an Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, made the journey home to their alma mater to speak to the 241 graduating seniors who made up the Class of 2001. Both received Alumni Citations for excellence in their fields.
For Noblet, a highly respected reporter and editor with the Associated Press who prefers fishing to fanfare, it was a bit frightening-"like standing out on a jetty all alone with a storm raging around me." He had graciously agreed to give commencement remarks when writer Ray Bradbury cancelled his plans to appear. The 80-year-old master of science fiction and fantasy was too ill to travel from California.
For Stedman, a former real estate agent and flight attendant who finally found her true calling in film, the moment was poignant. "I got a bit teary-eyed walking up that brick walk a second time," she said.
The day before, at a symposium sponsored by the Alumni Association, both had talked about their college experiences and the paths they had taken since leaving Washington College. Both credited their professors with instilling in them a desire to write well.
"This was such a great experience for me," remarked Stedman, who applied to just two schools-Washington College and the University of Maryland. "I remember in my freshman year I overslept for a German exam, and as I was racing to class I saw Dr. [Joachim] Scholz coming down the stairs. He saw me, smiled and said, 'Ah, I was just about to call you!' I don't know if that would have happened at the University of Maryland."
Noblet recalled Spanish and literature classes that fueled his desire to write and his yearning to see the world. "I couldn't wait to get out of college," he admitted. "I rushed out-without graduating-and it was a big mistake. I eventually earned my degree somewhere else, but it never gave me the sense of community Washington College did."
Assigned by AP to posts in Latin America and the Caribbean from the mid-1980s through 1993, Noblet covered stories that included the fall of General Augusto Pinochet in Chile, drug wars in Colombia and political turmoil in Haiti. For six years he was AP's deputy international editor in New York, and he initiated the investigative project that won the news agency a Pulitzer Prize in 2000 for exposing a massacre of civilians by inexperienced U. S. troops in the early days of the Korean War. His staff also won a Pulitzer in 1995 for coverage of the genocide in Rwanda. He now is AP's deputy business editor in New York.
Last spring, Stedman became the first Washington College alumna to win an Academy Award. She and director Barbara Shock accepted Oscars for their film "My Mother Dreams the Satan's Disciples in New York." The 30-minute comedy was based on a real encounter between Shock's mother and the Hell's Angels bikers who were her East Village neighbors. After graduating with a degree in international studies, Stedman became a scriptwriter with a small video production company near Philadelphia and then entered the American Film Institute in Los Angeles, CA, where she produced "My Mother Dreams."
"My whole life I've watched the Oscars," she said. "For me, it was the pinnacle I hoped to achieve 'some day.' When our film won the Palm Springs Festival, we were eligible to submit it for Academy nomination. It was a dream come true to stand up there on that stage."
She told the graduating class not to worry, even if they didn't have their whole lives planned out quite yet. "Washington College prepared me in ways I didn't even realize."
Noblet took an informal approach to his commencement remarks, in which he asked the graduates several questions and promised not to sound like their parents. "Was it fun? Was it hard? Did you make friends? Were there any surprises? Did you start to get a sense of who you are?"
He said that their education was a great experiment-and one that was far from over.
As the graduates braved chilly temperatures and a light drizzle, several senior honors and prizes were presented.
 The George Washington Medal, recognizing the greatest promise of understanding and realizing in life the ideals of a liberal arts education, went to Cornelis "Kees" de Mooy, a history major. De Mooy also received the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America Award, the Phi Alpha Theta Award and the Non-Traditional Student Award.
The Jane Huston Goodfellow Memorial Prize, awarded to a science major with "an abiding appreciation of the arts and humanities," went to Kyle Elizabeth Geissler, who majored in biology and psychology. She also received the department's research award.
The Sophie Kerr Prize, awarded to the graduating senior demonstrating the best literary promise, went to Stephanie Fowler, a 22-year-old English major from Salisbury, MD. Fowler's winning submission is a 150-page book of creative nonfiction titled Crossings: A Journey into God's Country.
The Louis L. Goldstein '35 Award, given in recognition of unusual interest, enthusiasm and potential in the field of public affairs, was presented to Seth William Gabriel and Kara Beth Lee, both political science majors.
Lanae Elizabeth Arnold, a psychology major, won the Eugene B. Casey Medal in recognition of her outstanding scholarship, character, leadership and campus citizenship. She also received two departmental awards-for promise in the field of psychology and for outstanding ability and achievement in the biobehavioral sciences.
 Dennis Wilson, a history major who gave the senior address, received the Henry W. C. Catlin Medal for scholarship, character, leadership and campus citizenry. He also received the Knapp Memorial Prize in History.
The Clark-Porter Medal, given to the student who has most enhanced the quality of campus life, went to Jillian Joy Matundan, president of the Student Government Association. Matundan majored in political science and drama.
Gold Pentagon awards for meritorious service were presented to Donald Holdren Jr., a music and drama major, Jillian Matunden and Mark Hubley, assistant professor of biology.
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