The Harvard Alumni Association named Stephany Zhivotovsky ’23, of Cabot House, and Adam Aleksic ’23, of Kirkland House, as this year’s David and Mimi Aloian Memorial Scholars—accompanied by a $2,000 unrestricted honorarium—for their thoughtful leadership and for enriching the quality of life in their Houses.
Zhivotovsky, of Zionsville, Indiana, has advocated for vulnerable peers and building community through social support. As House Committee wellness chair and a worship mission leader for Harvard College Faith and Action, she has hosted entertaining and enriching events. As a peer support group director with Harvard Synapse, she has also worked with traumatic brain-injury patients, and as co-president and managing director of Harvard’s Best Buddies, has developed friendships with adults who have intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Aleksic, of Albany, New York, spearheaded creative and joyful ways to bring Kirkland House together amidst the COVID-19 shutdown. Along with friends, he started a new House tradition, “Week Week,” through which a weekly theme is chosen and celebrated. He writes, acts, and directs Kirkland Drama Society’s comedies and organizes lively events as social chair of the Harvard Quiz Bowl team and of the Science Fiction Association. Aleksic also founded the 300-plus member Harvard Undergraduate Linguistics Society and coordinates guest speakers on campus.
