Some of the top students on campus were honored April 26 during an annual awards program that recognizes the accomplishments of African-American students at Elon University.
The 2008 Phillips-Perry Black Excellence Awards Banquet celebrates the academic success of full-time black students and serves as an inspiration to all black students to excel in the classroom.
More than 80 students received awards for a 2007 fall semester GPA of 3.2 or higher, or a cumulative GPA of 3.2 or higher. Special plaques were presented to the following students for having the highest grades:
• Freshman female with highest GPA – Amber Murphy
• Freshman male with highest GPA – Ryan Elliott
• Sophomore female with highest GPA – Martina Dent
• Sophomore male with highest GPA – Ahren Hoy
• Junior female with highest GPA – Miya Stodghill
• Junior male with highest GPA – Erick Brown
• Senior female with highest GPA – Jessica Young
• Senior male with highest GPA – Dwayne Waite
• Female athlete with the highest GPA – Grace Ilevbare
• Male athlete with the highest GPA – Jonathan Ogolo
• Alumni Gift – Shannon Davis
Established in 2003, the gift is given by Elon Alumna, Ablavi Gbenyon in honor of her late mother, Enid Gbenyon.
• Phi Beta Sigma Book Award – Eugene Daniel
Established in 2006, the Phi Beta Sigma Book Award is given by the Alpha Beta Beta Chapter of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity Inc.
• Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Textbook Award – Brittany Carroll & Caroline Denning
In 2007, the Omicron Epsilon Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority Inc. established the “Collecting Change to Make a Change” textbook award to benefit a female student at Elon.
Tanya Davis, an Elon alum who earned a degree in communications and English, served as keynote speaker at the banquet. Now living in Fayetteville, N.C., Davis works as the director of housing and associate dean of students at Methodist University.
“I stand before you today a proud woman. I am proud to call myself one of you, part of the Elon family,” Davis said in her address. “For it seems like it wasn’t so long ago that I sat in the very seat in which you sit today, being recognized at the First Annual Black Excellence Awards Banquet, where we were also honored for academic achievement.
“Although we considered ourselves very intelligent and wise, from the looks of it, there are many more of you being recognized today, than there were back then.”
The Phillips-Perry Black Excellence Awards is named in honor of Glenda Phillips, the first black student to attend Elon in 1963, and Eugene Perry, the first black student to graduate from Elon in 1969.