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When Kay M. Rollins ’25 took a nap on Thursday, she didn’t expect to wake up to texts reading “Have you heard the news?” about her winning the Hoopes Prize.

“First I thought I had missed some kind of major world event and googled ‘News’ before I checked my email, at which point I then found out I won,” she said.

“It felt like Christmas morning,” she added. “It was so nice to hear that kind of incredible compliment for my thesis after all of these months of working on it.”

The Hoopes Prize, awarded to 71 Harvard undergraduates this year, annually recognizes students for their “outstanding scholarly work or research,” usually for senior theses. The award is funded by the estate of Thomas T. Hoopes, class of 1919, for the purpose of “promoting, improving, and enhancing the quality of education.”

Student winners are awarded $5,000, and faculty nominators of winning projects are awarded $2,000 for promoting “excellence in the art of teaching.” Each winning project is bound and available in Lamont Library for two years.

Susan L. Lively, secretary of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, wrote in a statement that this year’s recipients “embody the highest level of undergraduate scholarship at Harvard.”

“Spanning disciplines from physics to philosophy and economics to engineering, the 2025 winners represent the intellectual curiosity and academic rigor at the heart of a Harvard education,” she said.

She added that the projects “not only reflect outstanding student achievement, but also the supportive mentorship offered by Harvard’s faculty.”

Emily R. Willrich ’25, a former Crimson News editor, said she found out about winning the award while on a boat, supervising intramural rowing for Dunster House.

“I’m just very honored to have my work recognized in that way,” she said. “I know it was definitely a team effort with my advisors, my parents, and people in the History Department.”

Jack K. Silvers ’25, a Social Studies concentrator, wrote his thesis on the fentanyl overdose crisis and lived in Oklahoma last summer to work on his research. Silvers said it was meaningful to “produce something that spoke to people.”

“I was doing interviews, I was talking to people, I was trying to live with them and understand their experiences,” he said. “It’s a validation of those methods.”

Some of the winners said that they had memorable and emotional experiences while researching for their thesis.

Silvers, a former Crimson Sports Chair, recalled attending the sentencing of someone who had been sentenced to 20 years in prison for selling fentanyl that led to someone’s death.

“I’m sitting there as a researcher and trying to understand the legal and the interpersonal dynamics at play, but at the same time, I’m a human being,” he said. “I’m feeling the emotions in the courtroom. I’m feeling the overwhelming grief of this family.”

Some winners said that receiving the award and going through the process of writing their thesis made them feel more prepared to continue in their academic careers.

Shruti Gautam ’25 is undecided on what she will pursue after graduating, but said that the most important thing is that she continues to write. Gautam said that her thesis “is the first thing that ever has proven to me in my life that I can write long form things.”

“It’s something that’s enjoyable and people would want to read it,” she added. “It’s been a really good validating experience. Because it’s one thing to say you want to write — it’s another thing to follow through.”

Jacob M. Miller ’25, former Crimson Editorial chair, said the process of writing a thesis made him more prepared to pursue a PhD at Yale after graduation.

“This whole process was very convincing that academic research is something I’m interested in,” he said. “You can’t really know until you actually do it.”

— Staff writer Ayaan Ahmad can be reached at ayaan.ahmad@thecrimson.com. Follow him on X @AyaanAhmad2024.