Princeton senior Madeleine Murnick, a classics major from Washington, D.C., has been named as the Class of 2026 salutatorian.
Murnick is pursuing minors in humanistic studies and music performance. Her senior thesis, “Latin in the Literary Imagination,” examines how people have learned Latin over the past 2,000 years, with an eye toward how best to teach Latin today.
She is a mentor in the Humanities Council’s Program in Humanistic Studies, helping to guide and build community among students in the yearlong Humanities Sequence “Interdisciplinary Approaches to Western Culture.”
In an interview with The Daily Princetonian, Murnick advised incoming students to “take the HUM Sequence no matter what major you’re planning to do. You won’t regret it, and it will go by way faster than you can possibly imagine — try not to forget that.”
In Fall 2024, Murnick traveled to Athens during fall break as part of the team-taught humanistic studies course “Historical Structures: Ancient Architecture’s Materials, Construction and Engineering.” She praised Princeton’s commitment to bringing the ancient world to life through hands-on access to ancient manuscripts and in-person experiences.
“Our professor had arranged with his colleagues in Greece for a behind-the-scenes tour of the Parthenon restoration,” she recalled. “We not only got to see the Temple of Nike up close, but they also opened a trap door in the floor, and we went down into the foundations of the temple. It was crazy. It was such a quintessential Princeton experience.”
Murnick is also part of the Behrman Undergraduate Society of Fellows, a group of juniors and seniors pursuing the minor in humanistic studies who meet formally once a month to discuss and debate matters of common interest in the company of faculty and distinguished guests.
