Since 2018, the Provost's Prize has been awarded to students who have made a significant contribution to the College community during their time at King's.
The winners of this year's prize are graduate student Michaela Kadlecová and undergraduates Alex Provost, Barry Khan and Joel Mahabir. The awards were conferred by the Provost with the following citations:
Despite being a part time student, Michaela Kadlecová has gone way above and beyond the call of duty in College. She has been an elected representative of King's Graduate Student Society for the last two years and sits on Council on behalf of graduate students, serving as a bridge between different communities. As Associate of the King's Entrepreneurship Lab (E-Lab), she has been in charge of their busy programme of events, including a monthly speaker series which includes Nobel Prize winners and CEOs of major co-operations and start-ups. Michaela was instrumental in getting the E-Lab to a very successful start and her hard work has allowed it to expand and serve the King's community as well as attract hundreds to King's since she joined the College in 2021.
Alex Provost’s positive contributions have been especially impactful for the College during the difficult pandemic years. He was KCSU Vice-President from December 2020 to January 2022, in which time he (in addition to the usual responsibilities such as serving on College Council) led a push for college-wide divestment and conceived and led a successful auction of leftover student kitchenware for charity. He led undergraduates for the majority of King’s most difficult era in recent memory, a time of COVID rules and social distancing regulations, doing his best to ensure that both students and staff felt safe whilst maintaining a semblance of student experience, such as in the negotiation of college library opening hours. He also served as the Security and Infrastructure Officer for the first post-COVID King’s Affair May Event (a role which spanned October 2021 - June 2022) and on the King’s Punt Committee since October 2020, working his way up to the role of Admiral this year. Alex has also been involved in occasional concerts with the King’s Music Society, as well as rowing in the Boat Club during his second year in the men’s second boat (M2) and reading regularly in Chapel services. Finally, Alex volunteered as a caller for the King’s Telephone Campaign in December 2022, where he connected with King’s alumni from around the world.
Barry Khan has provided outstanding leadership of King’s Politics, orchestrating a remarkable programme of events and speakers, and broadening the scope of the society to include pressing international as well as domestic issues.
Joel Mahabir has made a significant contribution to the King’s community, and more specifically, to Outreach and Admissions. Before being elected KCSU Access Officer, he was already volunteering enthusiastically to contribute to many of the programmes from which he had benefitted, passionate as he was to share his positive experiences with other students. The Admissions Tutor has been particularly grateful for the insightful and informed feedback he has provided about his own, and others’ experiences; his insightful comments about how to improve communications with students and increase take-up, and his enthusiastic attempts to establish student-run initiatives independently from those run via the Admissions office. Since becoming Access Officer, Joel has continued to be an indispensable support to the Admissions and Outreach team, not only organising student helpers and volunteers for specific outreach events and joining us two years in a row on our Access Bus, but also, being a constant fountain of ideas. As the Shadowing Scheme (organised by CUSU) returned in person earlier this year, Joel also organised three different groups of students staying in King’s and experiencing student life. This experience is invaluable to those who take part, and Joel took on the organisation with positivity and determination to make sure the participants experienced the best of Cambridge University.
