Souvenir: Speaker at Commencement
By Neil Schoenherr
May 18, 2001
The St. Louis Blues will go all the way in this year's Stanley Cup playoffs. That's right, you heard it here first.
At least that's the prediction of Richard M. Souvenir, this year's student Commencement speaker. And he should know.
Souvenir: Speaker at Commencement |
Besides serving as senior class president and working as a teaching assistant in the computer science department, Souvenir was instrumental in making the University's Ice Hockey Club competitive.
"Richard has exemplified excellence at Washington University throughout his undergraduate career," said Ron Cytron, associate professor of computer science in the School of Engineering and Applied Science and Souvenir's academic adviser. "He has earned high marks academically while majoring in computer science and biology. Gentle by nature, Richard's academic colleagues would be surprised at his transformation when he dons ice skates."
Souvenir said, "I'm very proud of the work I did with the Ice Hockey Club. It really just started out as something we did for fun, and it's turned into a competitive club team that now plays other universities."
Souvenir has played hockey since fifth grade. But when he came to the University, the hockey club wasn't playing competitively, and he felt something should be done to change that.
"So a couple of guys and I decided to up the competition a bit," he said.
The club team now plays against schools such as the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Missouri-St. Louis and Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. The team has about 17 members and plays a 25-game schedule.
Taking on new initiatives and seeing projects through to the end is nothing new for the Skokie, Ill., native. Souvenir was involved in student government all four years of his undergraduate career. In the computer science department, Souvenir has collaborated with faculty on research projects and has served as head teaching assistant in the undergraduate algorithms course.
He's advised several University committees, helped plan this year's Senior Week activities, and organized seminars for seniors during the school year on topics such as where to move after college and University resources available to alumni.
Souvenir intends to pursue a doctorate in computer science at the University. He's not exactly sure what he will do after that.
"I've thought about teaching or doing more research," he said. "The field I will be working in is computational biology. There are many new biotechnology firms opening, and there is a possibility of doing research for one of those. At this point, I'm just keeping my options open."
Souvenir said he has been impressed by the amount of amazing individuals in this year's senior class that come together to make a dynamic group.
"It doesn't matter if it's in school or in business, the outcome of a project is determined by what each individual brings to the table," he said. "I think a lot of people will look back on our class and say that we left a legacy here. I have been very impressed with the way members of our class have balanced academics and activities and been very successful at both."
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