Seven Princeton student-athletes have been named finalists for the 2021 Art Lane ’34 Award, which is presented annually to undergraduate student-athletes in recognition of selfless contribution to sport and society.
The Art Lane ’34 Award will be presented at the virtual Gary Walters ’67 Princeton Varsity Club Awards Banquet on Thursday, May 13th starting at 8:00 p.m. EST. For more information on the 2021 banquet, click here.
Meet the 2021 finalists!
Kelton Chastulik is an Ivy League Champion and NCAA qualifier in the Shot Put, holding top-10 indoor and outdoor all-time program marks for the Princeton men’s track & field program.
A 2020 Spirit of Princeton Award recipient, Chastulik is a leader within the Pace Center for Civic Engagement, serving as the Co-Chair for the Student Volunteers Council executive board. He has also been active within the Service Focus initiative and served as a Community Action Fellow, a Breakout Local participant and as a Princeton Access and Inclusion Community Ambassador.
Chastulik also began a book drive in his hometown of Chambersburg, Pa., that resulted in a book club for students in the community and promoted college awareness to high school students. For this effort and more, Chastulik was recently honored with the University’s A. James Fisher, Jr. Memorial Award, which recognizes impact through civic engagement.
Chastulik, from Chambersburg, Pa., is studying in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs with a certificate in values and public life.
Melia Chittenden is a two-time cross country/track & field team captain and a First Team All-Ivy and All-Region honoree. She qualified for the NCAA Cross Country championship in 2019, and has been named an NCAA Academic All-American three times.
Chittenden helped lead her team’s partnership with the Smith Family Foundation in Trenton, N.J. to provide headphones to 2,000 underprivileged students to aid with virtual learning. She has also served as a community outreach intern for the catholic charities of central New Mexico, supported immigration efforts for the International Rescue Committee, participated in the Princeton Asylum Project and tutored incarcerated individuals through the Princeton-based Petey Greene Program. Chittenden, a Student-Athlete Wellness Leader, was selected as a presenter at the Mary George Research Conference, discussing her research on the exploitation of nannies and domestic workers.
Chittenden, from Manhattan Beach, Calif., is a student in the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs while also holding minors in Arabic language & culture, Near Eastern studies and cognitive science.
Andrew Lin, a team captain for Princeton men’s water polo, was an exceptional example of service and leadership during his time at Princeton. Lin was a major contributor as an attacker for 2018 NWPC championship team, and was honored in 2019 as an ACWPC Academic All-American.
Out of the pool, Lin helped organize the men’s and women’s water polo programs’ walk to support the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, raising several thousand dollars in the process. Additionally, he has been extremely active with Athletes in Action in his time on campus, having helped organize the group’s annual Teams and Toys initiative to donate toys to underprivileged children in the local community.
Lin is a member of the University Cottage Club’s Diversity Committee, Asian Student-Athletes of Princeton and the Christian Union Nova Student Leadership Board, and has been a lead volunteer with the Princeton Varsity Club’s “Reading with Tigers” program.
A native of Richardson, Texas, Lin is a computer science major.
Matthew Marquardt swam backstroke and butterfly for Princeton men’s swimming & diving team, scoring in three different Ivy League Championship meets.
In 2019, Marquardt became the first Princetonian to receive the Slavin Fellowship for entrepreneurship, while also being honored at Princeton Research Day for his work on solar powered windows. He has led numerous research studies on campus related to student sleep habits, and developed the TigerDen Sleep Workshop to improve mental health and performance via sleep.
Marquardt recently completed a 20 day solo cross-country bike ride, which raised over $13,000 in support of St. Jude Children’s Hospital and pediatric cancer research. Additionally, he served the Princeton community as a tutor for underprivileged first and second graders, and also as a Patient Care Ambassador at the Princeton Medical Center.
From Cincinnati, Ohio, Marquardt is a chemistry major pursuing certificates in entrepreneurship, materials science, and engineering.
Lauren Sanchez, a team captain for the women’s lightweight rowing program, began her Princeton career winning silver at Eastern Sprints and gold at the IRA National Championship in the doubles scull. In 2019, she led the first varsity eight to gold at Eastern Sprints and silver at the IRAs.
Off the water, Sanchez played an integral role in leading and growing the partnership between Princeton rowing and the Special Olympics of New Jersey. She has also served her Princeton community as a Student-Athlete Wellness Leader, board member for the Pace Center Student Volunteers Council, Community Action Orientation Leader and Director for the philanthropy-centric Zeta Phi Chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
Sanchez continues to serve as teacher and mentor for Curious Cardinals, an organization working to address the youth learning gap brought on by COVID-19. She previously worked as a Diversity & Inclusion Intern with the PALS Program, a nonprofit creating inclusive camp experiences for individuals with Down syndrome.
Sanchez, from Medford, N.Y., is a politics major pursuing certificates in American ideals and institutions, and values and public life.
Ryan Schwieger, a senior team captain, has been a standout contributor for the Princeton men’s basketball program throughout his career. A two-time Ivy League Player of the Week, he led the team in assists per game and finished third in points per game during the 2019-20 season, which saw the Tigers earn a berth in the Ivy League Tournament.
Off the court, Schwieger co-founded Poll Hero, an organization working to address the shortage of poll workers in the United States. During the 2019-20 election cycle, Poll Hero successfully recruited more than 37,000 high school and college students to serve as poll workers around the country. He also spent a summer as a project coordinator for the Cultural Center of the Philippines, helping to promote diverse artistic and cultural voices.
Schwieger, from Matthews, N.C., is a sociology major with a certificate in American studies.
Alexa Underwood, a team captain and outside hitter, helped Princeton women’s volleyball to two Ivy League championships and NCAA Tournament appearances during her career. She has also assumed leading roles in the program’s social media strategy and management of recruit hosting.
Underwood has served as co-President of the Wounded Tigers Network – a support group that aims to break the stigma surrounding injury – and as a board member for the Student-Athlete Service Council. On top of serving as an Associate Editor for the Princeton Legal Journal, she was elected a Representative on the Politics Undergraduate Committee and as an Undergraduate Fellow in the James Madison Program in American Ideas and Institutions.
Underwood has been involved in the First Year/Senior Mentorship Program and as a mentor for Princeton Women in Economics & Policy. She was also elected President of Pi Beta Phi Fraternity, the largest women’s organization on campus.
Underwood is a politics major from Manhattan Beach, Calif.
