Our Bureau
Davidson, NC
Toshaani Goel ’24 of Davidson College has been awarded the prestigious W. Thomas Smith Scholarship. The scholarship honors graduating seniors for outstanding academic achievement, leadership, character, and community service. The scholarship pays for a year of graduate study abroad.
Goel graduated in Global Literary Theory and will continue her education next year in the United Kingdom as a 2024 Smith Scholar. She’ll study for a master’s degree in cultural, intellectual and visual history of the Renaissance at the University of London’s Warburg Institute.
Interestingly, she was planning to become a doctor and was convinced that humanities studies would make her a better one.
“I embody the liberal arts motto,” she said. “I believe in engaging all parts of your brain. You can develop skills in any career; a liberal arts education teaches you how to think and how to use what you’ve learned in vastly different classes to make your world a better place.”
Porges, her husband, Julio Ramirez (Davidson’s R. Stuart Dickson Professor of Psychology), and their children were Goel’s host family during her four years at Davidson.
“There was this immediate connection,” said Porges, who first met Goel on a Zoom call. “My kids love her too; she’s become so much a part of our family. Toshaani sees the humor in everything. She could come over to our house after a bad day and within two minutes we’d all be laughing. We plan on going to visit her in the UK — and wherever she lands after that.”
Goel grew up in the city of Chandigarh in northwest India. She spent her early years rooted in a strong STEM education. As per Goel, even in the STEM-dominated environment, her parents stressed the importance of arts and literature as integral to understanding the world.
Goel had received a full James B. Duke Scholarship to attend Davidson, where she frequented science research labs and art galleries, led outdoor expeditions and packed a schedule filled with her diverse interests.
By her second year, she was selected as a humanities fellow and as an intern at the college’s Van Every/Smith Galleries. Goel wrote blogs for the galleries and even created her own art. In 2022, she won a best of show award for her sculpture in the college’s annual student art contest.
