The Columbia Business School Class of 2010 contains students from a range of impressive personal and professional backgrounds. “You indeed represent one of our most international classes ever,” Assistant Dean of Admissions Linda Meehan told the fall class’s 539 students in her welcoming address. Thirty-six percent of the class is composed of international citizens, with China, Canada, Spain, India and Argentina ranking as the most highly represented foreign countries. Collectively, the class speaks 51 languages, including Tamil, Yoruba and American Sign Language; 68 percent of the class is fluent in two or more languages. Women constitute 35 percent of the class. The class’s professional accomplishments have come in a variety of fields, ranging from finance and politics to media, philanthropy and athletics. The class contains a former Bloomberg reporter who covered the Chinese energy sector, a former Fox News commentator, a former Dove model and spokesperson, a former adviser to the Pentagon, the author of Yes We Can: A Biography of Barack Obama as well as a former racecar driver, two former NFL linemen and Keeth Smart, who led the U.S. men’s sabre team to a silver medal at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. Members of the class of 2010 have founded a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting athletics and education for youths in the Dominican Republic, climbed Kilimanjaro to raise awareness for AIDS and promoted the development of small entrepreneurs in the Philippines. “We are delighted with your numbers, but the excellence of your class stretches far beyond academia,” Meehan said. Ninety-eight members of the class graduated at least cum laude, with 34 graduating magna cum laude and 25 summa cum laude. The class also features 21 members of Phi Beta Kappa and one Fulbright scholar. As a whole, the class holds 84 master’s degrees, six JDs and one MD.