State College Area High-School Graduate Janet Geoffroy Chosen as Student Marshal

Janet M. Geoffroy of State College, Pennsylvania, will be honored as the Eberly College of Science student marshall during the Penn State spring commencement ceremonies on 13 May, 2000.

A major in physics with a minor in mathematics, Ms. Geoffroy was chosen to represent her class as student marshall because of her outstanding academic record. During her undergraduate years at Penn State, she earned a 4.00 grade-point average and was on the Dean's List every semester.

"After my first semester when I got a 4.0, my father told me, 'You know Janet, if you keep this up you could be student marshall some day,' " Ms. Geoffroy said. "After a few semesters, my GPA was still a 4.0, and then it just seemed right to try to keep it going. It has been a big motivation, especially during those really tough semesters."

Even notification of the honor, which she received in early March, did not dampen her enthusiasm for her goal.

"A 3.99 is great, but there's something special about a 4.0," Ms. Geoffroy said. "So, even now that I have been chosen as the student marshall, keeping the 4.0 is very important to me. I'd feel really bad if I worked so hard and messed it up in the end."

In addition to her achievements in class, Ms. Geoffroy also has received numerous scholarships and awards, including the prestigious Barry Goldwater undergraduate research scholarship for work she performed in the Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics.

Ms. Geoffroy is also a member of the Schreyer Honors College. She developed her honors thesis in physics after teaching an introductory physics laboratory class for nonscience majors for three semesters. She discovered there were some problems with the course, which prompted her to rewrite some portions of the laboratory manual and test those changes with several classes. Her changes were well-received, and will be incorporated in future lab manuals.

Her postgraduation plans include a full-time position with IBM in Endicott, New York, as a network programmer. She accepted the position after working at IBM for five months as part of a cooperative-education program through the Eberly College of Science.

Ms. Geoffroy's father, Gregory L. Geoffroy, senior vice president for academic affairs and provost at the University of Maryland, will be the keynote speaker for the commencement exercises. He is a former dean of the Eberly College of Science, who took his position at Maryland in 1997 during Ms. Geoffroy's second year at Penn State.

"It was disappointing when he left, because it was neat to think about maybe being the student marshall someday and having my dad hand me my diploma at graduation," Ms. Geoffroy said. "The fact that he's coming back to speak at my graduation is great. I'm really excited."

A graduate of State College Area High School, Ms. Geoffroy will be accompanied by her parents, Gregory and Kathleen Geoffroy; her sister, Susan Geoffroy, a 1996 graduate of Penn State; her brothers, David, a Penn State student, and Michael; and her fiance, Jason Palmatier, a 1999 graduate of Penn State.

Ms. Geoffroy selected Moses Chan, Evan Pugh Professor of Physics, to be her faculty escort for the commencement ceremony.

Ms. Geoffroy's extracurricular activities include ballroom dancing, hiking, sailing, traveling, and playing sports such as racquetball and volleyball. She is an aspiring gourmet chef who also enjoys knitting afghans, and looks forward to someday owning a Mustang GT convertible.