Women's cross country and track & field senior Harper Hubbeling received the William W. Ambler Award at a banquet on the Haverford College campus Thursday evening. In addition to Hubbeling, 15 fellow senior athletes were recognized as the Ambler Scholar-Athletes.
Ambler Scholar-Athletes (Sport/Major)
Michele Buonora (Soccer/Psychology)
Joseph Carpenter (Cross Country & Track & Field/Psychology/Philosophy)
Elizabeth Davis (Softball/Chemistry)
Louis DeRosa (Baseball/Chemistry)
Michael Galetta (Baseball/Fine Arts)
Anders Hulleberg (Cross Country & Track & Field/Sociology)
Zachary Needell (Cross Country & Track & Field/Physics)
Samuel Permutt (Basketball/Economics/Psychology)
Nicholas Reynolds (Cross Country & Track & Field/Economics)
Meaghan Ryan (Basketball/History/Class, Culture & Society)
Elias Tousley (Cross Country & Track & Field/Physics)
Alexandra Waleko (Field Hockey/History/Spanish)
Aaron Weitz (Tennis/English/Education Studies)
Hailiu Yang (Tennis/Chemistry/Mathematics)
Elizabeth Zoidis (Cross Country/Economics/Spanish)
Below is an excerpt from the Ambler banquet program on Hubbeling.
Harper Hubbeling has excelled in the classroom, on the cross country course and on the track over the past four years. She entered Haverford with little experience in cross country but evolved into an all-region competitor. "I'm grateful to have been able to spend four years in a community where athletics and academics not only co-exist but sustain and energize each other; a place where professors send you congratulatory emails after meets, and coaches genuinely want to know what you did that day in lab," said Hubbeling. She is the sixth women's cross country and or track athlete and the third biology major to receive the prestigious William W. Ambler Award.
After considering English as her major when she came to Haverford, Hubbeling took an interest in the sciences. "I liked stories—telling, reading, writing, and dissecting stories," she explained. "But in the end I found my stories on the bench top. When I discover something in lab there is this exhilaration that comes from uncovering a plot twist in a molecular narrative that I've become deeply invested in. These molecular stories sometimes lack the intent, the simplicity, the motive and the resolution I want to give them, but to me their veracity alone is beautiful."
Next year Hubbeling will be in Strasbourg, France working at the Institute of Genetics and Molecular and Cellular Biology in a stem cell biology lab. "I'll be working in Dr. Susan Chan's laboratory investigating the development of T regulatory cells, work closely related to what I've gotten a chance to do in Dr. Punt's immunology lab here," she said. "After that I plan to pursue both a doctorate in molecular immunology as well as a medical degree."
Hubbeling's dedication as a student has earned her the praises of her advisor. "Harper is not only an extraordinary student, but an extraordinary individual," said Jenni Punt, professor of biology. "Intellectually fearless, Harper is also gentle and unselfishly thoughtful; she is an unusually disciplined thinker and runner, yet is also unafraid to think differently, creatively. In truth she integrates the right and left brains better than almost any I have met—and with stunning results. An 'original', Harper will have a lasting impact not only on scientific understanding, but also on the world around her. It has simply been a privilege to have known her."
In cross country and track, Hubbeling put together an impressive resume. She has been a part of five Centennial Conference team championships and was named to the Centennial Conference Academic Honor Roll eight times. "She has made monumental improvements since she came to Haverford," said head coach Fran Rizzo. "She's developed into one of the better distance runners in the conference and some of her best races have been at the championship level." Earlier this month her academic and athletic accomplishments were recognized nationally when she received a prestigious NCAA Postgraduate scholarship.