Nearly two dozen Elon University students and a staff member were recognized for their leadership at a special virtual awards ceremony sponsored by Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society.
Elon University celebrated the achievements of top student leaders on Thursday, April 30, during the annual leadership awards program sponsored by Omicron Delta Kappa, a national leadership honor society.
The virtual ceremony included video presentations for each award winner, with comments and commendations offered to each recipient by Elon faculty members and their peers. The videos are available on a special Omicron Delta Kappa website recognizing this year’s recipients.
Since 1977, Omicron Delta Kappa has recognized Elon students who exhibit high academic standards and outstanding leadership. Other core components include multicultural experience, athletics, campus and community service, social and religious activities, campus government, creative and performing arts and journalism, speech and mass media.
Exemplary achievement and service are also being recognized this spring during several individual school ceremonies.
2020 Omicron Delta Kappa leadership award winners
Student Media Award – Jose Antonio L. Delgado
This award is presented to the student who has contributed the most to advance communications on campus during the current academic year.
Leadership Studies Award – Timothy Q. Boles and Morgan C. Shapero
The Leadership Studies Award is awarded annually to the senior Leadership Studies minor who has best exemplified the study of leadership as an academic discipline through excellence in related coursework, research and/or other scholarly contributions.
Hilaire Pickett ’08 Leadership Grant – Caroline E. Penfield
The endowed scholarship, the Hilaire Pickett ’08 Leadership Grant, is awarded to students that participate in the Leadership Education and Development at Elon. Awards are granted to support students in their junior or senior years to pursue leadership internships or legacy efforts. The students must demonstrate a significant commitment to their organizations and academics and be active in contributions that have a positive impact on the Elon community.
The PERCS Outstanding Ethnography Award – Marjorie Anne Foster and Kathryn B. Gerry
This award recognizes the student who has conducted the most outstanding ethnographic research project at Elon University, judged according to the quality of both the process and product. The award is given by PERCS: The Program for Ethnographic Research and Community Studies.
GlaxoSmithKline Women in Science Scholar Award – Samantha E. Eastman and Ons Y. Bouali
This scholarship is awarded by the North Carolina GlaxoSmithKline Foundation’s Women in Science Scholars Program to a rising sophomore or junior majoring in math or science. Under the program, scholarship recipients are paired with professional GlaxoSmithKline women who have excelled in various science-related fields and careers, and can provide guidance and shared experiences with the scholars.
Katharine DuPont Weymouth Scholarship – Courtney T. Guthrie
This scholarship is awarded to outstanding juniors in the social sciences and given in honor of alumnus Frank Lyon ’71.
W.L. Monroe Christian Education and Personality Award – Andrew T. Veilleux and Caren S. Aveldanez
Recipients of this award demonstrate citizenship and a strong desire to help others improve themselves. A trust created by the late W.L. Monroe Sr., who attended Elon in 1917, provides cash awards to the recipients.
Truitt Center Reconciliation Award – Michelle R. Russell
This award is presented to a student who best exemplifies the vision of Douglas G. Noiles and Edna Truitt Noiles ’ 44, who endowed the program in the Vera Richardson Truitt Center for Religious and Spiritual Life “to enable Elon students to learn about their own and other faiths and to live lives of reconciliation.”
Ella Brunk Smith Award – Megan Hernandez-Greene and Katherine D. Klinger
In honor of Ella Brunk Smith, wife of former Elon President Dr. L.E. Smith, a cash award is presented to a female student in the senior class who has made significant contributions to the religious and moral life on campus.
Martha Smith Award for Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies – Timothy Q. Boles and Fiona R. Zahm
This award is given in honor of Martha Smith, one of the founding mothers of the women’s, gender and sexualities studies program at Elon University, to recognize the achievements – both academic and activist in nature – of a graduating senior Women’s, Gender and Sexualities Studies minor.
Iris Holt McEwen Community Service Award – Ashley R. Billie
This award is presented to a student whose service to Elon and the larger community exemplifies the generosity of spirit and dedication to philanthropy of Iris Holt McEwen.
Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award – Shariq R. Ali, Arianne E. Payne and Becky Olive-Taylor
The Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award is an award presented to graduating seniors, alumni, and community members of selected colleges and universities in the Southern United States for excellence of character and service to humanity. At Elon, two graduating seniors and one faculty or staff member are recognized annually for their honesty, morality, ethics, integrity, responsibility, determination, courage and compassion.
Newman Civic Fellows Award – Jovani Mendez-Sandoval
The Campus Compact Newman Civic Fellows Award is a national award that recognizes students who inspire and engage others through their work to provide long-term solutions for social issues in their communities. This award is made in honor of Dr. Frank Newman, one of Campus Compact’s founders, who was a tireless advocate for the role of higher education in preparing students for active and engaged citizenship.
John W. Barney Memorial Award – Gilbert H. Schultz
This award recognizes the senior(s) with the highest cumulative GPA. Colleagues, former students, and friends of the late John W. Barney established this award in his honor. Mr. Barney graduated from Elon in 1910 and was a member of the faculty for more than three decades.
William Moseley Brown Leadership Award – Marjorie Anne Foster
Presented by Elon’s Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa, this award is presented to the student who consistently demonstrates the highest ideals of Omicron Delta Kappa: scholarship, service, integrity, character and fellowship, including providing distinguished leadership to his or her peers. The award is named in honor of a former Elon faculty member and one of the original founders of the national chapter of Omicron Delta Kappa.