Elon honored 10 outstanding graduates of the past decade on March 31 at the annual Top 10 Under 10 Awards banquet.
The Elon community gathered with the award recipients and their families and friends for the event, which celebrates young alumni who have excelled professionally, made an impact on their communities or loyally supported Elon.
“We are here tonight to recognize a group of people who are making sure Elon is known for producing excellent leaders with servant hearts,” said Sallie Hutton ’92, director of alumni engagement.
The 2012 Top 10 recipients are:
- Melissa Will Banta ’04 G’06, inpatient therapy manager, Sheltering Arms Rehabilitation Hospital
- Dominic Barrett ’06, executive director of Shalom Farms
- James Black ’09, U.S. Army psychological operations specialist
- Stephen Charles ’03, director of medical education, University of Kansas School of Medicine
- Maria Teresa Interiano ’07, reporter and producer, Telefutura/Univision Network
- Erin Lawless ’03, senior partnerships director, Atlas Service Corps
- Jay Perry ’03, owner, Seal Pros, Inc. & Pothole Pros, Inc.
- Elizabeth Schrauder-Ermis ’04, instructional technologist, High Point University
- Jamie Sclater ’02, U.S. Navy lead petty officer, hospital corpsman and sniper
- Summur Shaikh ’03, producer, ABC’s “The View”
Click here to read full biographies of the 2012 Top 10 Under 10 Award recipients.
Each graduate was presented by an Elon faculty or staff member who played a major role in his or her undergraduate experience, including Anthony Hatcher, associate professor of communications, who presented Black in absentia. A specialist in the U.S. Army being honored for his efforts to support education among children in Helmand Province, Afghanistan, Black left the country on deployment shortly before the Top 10 Under 10 Awards banquet.
“I look forward to talking with him sometime soon, when he can be the teacher and I can be the student,” Hatcher said.
The honorees received their awards from President Leo M. Lambert, who closed the evening with a request to the alumni to take a larger leadership role in the life of Elon University.
“You are at the leading edge of a huge alumni force here at Elon,” he said. “I hope this award is a reminder that your alma mater is counting on you to take this institution down the road to becoming one of the great universities in the United States.”
For more information about the Top 10 Under 10 Awards, or to nominate an outstanding young alum you know, please visit the Elon Alumni Association website.