Knox College's top stories of 2017 highlighted strong showings in college rankings, the 50th anniversary of the Program in Creative Writing, and achievements by students, faculty, and alumni.

The most-popular stories of the year on the Knox website also included two longtime traditions, Commencement and Flunk Day—and not just the 2017 incarnations. Flunk Day 2014, for instance, was a particularly fine vintage that still captures readers' attention.

Of the 160 or so news articles posted on Knox's website in 2017, these were the most-viewed:

1. Rankings, as compiled by the New York Times, U.S. News & World Report, and Forbes. The Times identified Knox as one of the nation's top colleges "Doing the Most for the American Dream." U.S. News cited Knox for outstanding educational value in "Great Schools, Great Prices." And Forbes gave high marks to Knox in the publication's 2017 "Grateful Graduates Index: Top 200 Best-Loved Colleges."
2. Commencement. The announcement of actress, producer and philanthropist Eva Longoria as the 2017 Commencement speaker was a big hit. Other favorites were a preview of Commencement festivities and a post-Commencement recap. Honorable mention goes to a still-popular article: the transcribed remarks of 2013 Commencement speaker Ed Helms.
3. Flunk Day. The Pocket Guide to Predicting Flunk Day offered an analysis about when the surprise event might happen. It turned out that Pirates of the Flunk arrived on May 4. And, as mentioned earlier, readers apparently just cannot get enough of Flunk Day 2014.
4. Renovation of the Hard Knox Cafe. The renovations included new carpeting, new floors, new seating areas along the windows, and more open areas that enable students to move more quickly from one food station to another.
5. Faculty member Teresa Gonzales selected for prestigious fellowship. Gonzales, assistant professor of anthropology-sociology, was awarded a Career Enhancement Fellowship, funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and administered by the Woodrow Wilson National Fellowship Foundation.
6. Faculty member Julio Noriega publishes Quechua anthology. Noriega, professor of Modern Languages (Spanish), conducted extensive research to produce the book of poetry in Quechua, an indigenous language, with Spanish translations.
7. Student achievements. Three Knox students and a recent alumna were chosen for Fulbright awards for 2017-18. One of them, Dakota Stipp, opted instead to attend graduate school at Yale University, and before leaving Knox, he researched the connection between gestural movement, computer software, and music.
8. Class of 2021 legacies. Twenty-five of Knox's newest students are legacies, meaning they're following a relative who also attended Knox.
9. Alumni achievements. Chris Murrie '95 is an award-winning film editor whose most recent work, Kubo and the Two Strings, was nominated for two Academy Awards and a Golden Globe Award. Four alumni—teacher Harriet Drew Barringer, teacher and midwife Rebecca Hollmeyer Ullman, CEO and author Jane Strode Miller, and public health leader Luella Williams—were honored with Alumni Achievement Awards at the 2017 Founders Day Convocation Ceremony.
10. Creative writing program's anniversary. Knox celebrated the 50th anniversary of its renowned Program in Creative Writing in 2017 with a series of on-campus and national events.

Keep up with Knox news on social media (Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram) or by visiting www.knox.edu/news.

(Photos below: Alumni Achievement Award recipients, Flunk Day, Teresa Gonzales, Julio Noriega, and Eva Longoria.)