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Katherine Linder

Biography

Summary: Katherine Linder, 22, thrived at Princeton University, in the classroom and across the campus, winning the highest award for general distinction that Princeton confers on an undergraduate. She earned a 3.86 GPA, majoring in history with a minor in contemporary European politics and society. She also ran the Orange Key Society for campus guides, took a leading role in a mock Congress, and participated actively in the Whig-Cliosophic Society, America's oldest collegiate political group. Ms. Linder won a coveted internship at the office of the US Ambassador in Paris, employing her proficient French. She plans to seek a master of philosophy degree and then a Ph.D. in European history at the University of Cambridge in the United Kingdom.

Biography: Katherine's creative gifts blossomed thanks to her family's virtually unlimited imagination and her own tireless curiosity about her surroundings. She recalls constructing a stage from plastic pipe to perform stage productions with her sister. Katherine also created "summer camps" for children in her neighborhood that were complete with science experiments. And, staying in touch with the outside world, she and her sister read at least three articles a day in the Wall Street Journal.

Starting in seventh grade, Katherine took up the cello, played her way into the Sacramento Youth Symphony, and later joined a chamber group to play at art openings. Family trips, including one memorable auto journey from the Atlantic to the Pacific, allowed time for excursions to out-of-the-way destinations, including the family farm in Iowa and the legendary ground hog's hideout in Punxsutawney, PA.

Princeton proved to be a good match for Katherine. She decided to start community service from her first day on campus. She counseled undergraduates and international students and became leader of the Princeton organization in charge of college tours for thousands of visitors. As a result of such work, Ms. Linder won many honors. But perhaps the award that most affected her future was receiving the Pamela Harriman Foreign Service Fellowship. This honor enabled her to spend a summer as the only intern in the US Ambassador's office in the Paris Embassy and get a unique view of American foreign policy in the making.

Through her study of history at Cambridge University, Katherine intends to prepare for a career in university administration or in a multi-national organization such as the European Union. "I do not know precisely where I will end up," she realizes. But, she says, "I do know that I will delve into future opportunities with energy, enthusiasm, and dedication."

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