It’s the season of flying Eileens. Eileen Collins, MS ’86, a retired Air Force colonel and NASA astronaut, received a 2026 Horatio Alger Award for leaders who have triumphed over adversity. She was the first woman to pilot, and later to command, a U.S. space shuttle.
Eileen Gu, ’26, soared into the record books at the 2026 Winter Games, becoming the most decorated freeskier in Olympic history. She won silver medals in freestyle skiing big air and slopestyle, and a gold medal in freeski halfpipe, where she was joined on the podium by bronze medalist Zoe Atkin, ’26. Speedskater Brandon Kim, ’26, and cross-country skier Sammy Smith, ’28—fresh from the soccer field—brought additional Farm flair to the Games.
Smith’s Cardinal soccer teammate Jasmine Aikey, ’26, was named Academic All-America Team Member of the Year and the winner of the 2025 Missouri Athletic Club Hermann Trophy, the top honor in NCAA Division I soccer. She’s just the second player in history to take home both awards in the same year.
And speaking of high-level achievements, Leonard Schein, ’71, was named to the Order of Canada for his work as a philanthropist and as the founder of the Vancouver International Film Festival.
