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Princeton University Athletics
Gantman Earns Pyne Prize, University's Top Undergraduate Honor
February 21, 2023 | Women's Soccer, Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
The honor, established in 1921, "is awarded to the senior who has most clearly manifested excellent scholarship, strength of character and effective leadership."
Gantman had a 4-1 record in her 2022 season and was the team's honoree for Academic All-Ivy League. She adds the Pyne Prize to a Princeton School of Public and International Affairs graduate scholarship.
From the University's announcement of the honor:Â
Gantman, from Washington D.C., is majoring in the School of Public and International Affairs (SPIA) and pursuing a certificate in Spanish language and culture. She is a four-year varsity athlete, playing goalie on the women's soccer team.
Gantman is a member of Phi Beta Kappa and is the 2022 James D. Zirin '61 and Marlene Hess Scholar in the Nation's Service. After graduation, she will pursue a master's in public affairs at SPIA through the Scholar in the Nation's Service Initiative (SINSI).
"I am deeply honored to have been selected for this prize," Gantman said, adding that she was initially shocked upon learning of the award. "I am a proud product of the D.C. Public Schools system, and this level of recognition from an institution like Princeton was never on my to-do list."
Gantman said receiving the Pyne Prize also has inspired reflection. "I was born in a rural rice town in China and I was orphaned by the time I was a few days old. Most of the children from my orphanage will never step onto a college campus. This prize is a reminder of where I come from, where I am and an encouragement to continue to serve my communities," she said.
She expressed gratitude for her professors, mentors, coaches, friends and family who encouraged her to push herself and gave her the tools and opportunities to succeed at Princeton.
Professor Udi Ofer said Gantman "truly embodies the values of the Pyne Prize."
"Ella has been one of the most impressive, if not the most impressive, student that I have taught," said Ofer, the John L. Weinberg/Goldman Sachs and Co. Visiting Professor, a SPIA lecturer and Gantman's senior thesis adviser. "She is smart and innovative, passionate about helping others, is a critical thinker, and has always excelled in whatever she has had before her."
Gantman's time at Princeton has been focused on academic and service work related to voting rights and access. She co-founded the Poll Hero Project, a non-partisan effort that mobilized more than 37,000 young people to volunteer as poll workers during the 2020 election. She also served as the lead athletics fellow for the Vote100 program, spearheading voting initiatives for nearly 1,000 student-athletes.
Her senior thesis analyzes how people who are legally eligible to vote while housed in New Jersey jails are not able to due to poor voting infrastructures. "My county-by-county analysis … will provide policy recommendations to pave a route forward, uplifting the voices of incarcerated people," Gantman explained.
Ultimately, Gantman said she hopes to pursue a legal career that will help "reimagine the carceral system," with an emphasis on racial and economic justice.
"Ella not only thinks critically about improving the communities that she's a part of to be more inclusive and engaged, but follows through and creates that change," said Claire Pinciaro, assistant dean for student life in Yeh College.
Her passion for improving communities also extends to the athletic field. Gantman founded and chaired the women's soccer team's diversity, equity and inclusion committee. Head Coach Sean Driscoll said Gantman has been a strong moral compass, support system and empathetic leader for her fellow student-athletes. "Ella's efforts and talent align with the excellence this University symbolizes and demands. She is the best possible representative of our program," he said.
Off campus, Gantman has pursued a number of service internships and opportunities. Last summer, she interned at the Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division and hopes to continue work there as a SINSI fellow after earning her master's in public affairs. She also has experience as an investigative intern for the federal public defender's office for the District of Columbia; a legislative intern in the office of U.S. Rep. Ami Bera of California; and an intern at the Asian Pacific American Institute for Congressional Studies.
Her other extracurricular activities include serving a mentor for the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, a TigerCall lead supervisor with the University's Office of Annual Giving, a fellow at the Princeton Writing Center, and a member of the student organizations Asian Student Athletes of Princeton, Athlete Ally, Jewish Asians and Jewish Latinos. Gantman is a member of New College West.
