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student awards

Student leadership

Recognizing greatness.

 

Mastodons do amazing work every day, and we want to celebrate that. Check out the various student awards presented by Student Leadership.

Note: Nominations for the 2024 awards cycle will close on March 1st, 2024. When submitting nominations, please only include examples from the current academic year.

Nominate Someone Here!

This will be awarded to a student who has made an impact on Purdue Fort Wayne, shown support for students, student organizations, and the greater campus community, exhibited college pride, and demonstrated overall student leadership throughout the academic year. Nominators can provide examples that occurred outside of this academic year, when relevant.

Eligible students must have a GPA of 2.5 or higher, be in good standing with the Office of Conduct and Care, and be enrolled as a full-time student at the university for the previous and current semester.

This award is given to a member of the Student Government Association who has shown leadership within the organization and has gone above and beyond the expectations of their position. 

This is awarded to the individual who has supported their organization through serving as a resource and assisting the student members in the organization. 

This award is given to the member who has contributed to their organization in positive and significant ways, gone above and beyond the call of member duty, and helped to continue steering the organization in a positive direction. 

This award is presented to a student who has given outstanding service to their organization and has worked toward their own leadership development. 

This award is given to the student organization that has played a vital role in the campus community and has gone above and beyond to enhance the campus through the past academic year. 

This award will be given to a student who has embodied the university’s values throughout the academic year. Nominations should detail examples of a students-first mentality, striving for excellence and innovation, commitment to diversity and inclusion, and engagement on campus. 

This award is given to an individual or group who promotes diversity of thought and helps to build a campus atmosphere where a range of views, ideas, and beliefs can be freely shared and respected.

This award recognizes specific initiatives and/or newer organizations that have built their membership and something new for the benefit of the campus community.

This award is given to a student who is employed in an on-campus role and excels at their job responsibilities. Nominators should be the supervisor or another employee from the department or office. Nominations should detail the how the nominee’s work performance has made an impact in the office, and how they have collaborated with others, led with a positive attitude, and shown, for example, creativity and problem-solving skills.

This award is given to a staff member who supervises student employees as part of their responsibilities. The nominator for this award should be a student employee directly supervised by nominee. Nominations should detail specific examples of how the nominee has enhanced the student-employment experience on campus through their supervision.

The award for service to students is given to the individual or group who has exhibited support through service to the student body. These contributions are reflective of their dedication both in and out of the classroom.

This is awarded to a part-time or full-time faculty member who helped engage, impact, and inspire students. Their dedication to students is evident inside and outside the classroom. Nominees for this award should demonstrate how they went above and beyond the basic requirements of teaching to inspire students to attain excellence in scholarship.

Nominations for this award should be submitted by students only. Nominations should include specific examples from a student perspective of how the instructor demonstrated teaching excellence during the last academic year.

2024 Awards Cycle

Meet the nominees and recipients.

Here is a list of the nominees and recipients for each award for 2024.

Student Leader of the Year Award and Scholarship  
Allyssa Hennessey

Davion Tate

Emma Hedrick

Willow Cribb

SGA Member of the Year Award 
Alex Blade

Asad Alibhai

Feyisola Elegbede

Maleah Boyd

Michael Boyd

Mikayla Haggarty

Student Organization Advisor of the Year 
Cicelle Beemon - Black Student Union

Jacob Allard - The Herd

Mitchell Fiandt - Tabletop RPG/OUTspoken

Student Organization Member of the Year 
Antwanette Jacobs - Black Student Union

Carolyn Pang - Chi Eta Sigma

Davion Tate - Black Student Union

Trinity Stephan - The Herd

Student Organization Officer of the Year Award 
Antwanette Jacobs - Black Student Union

Arshpreet Singh Sandhu - Indian Students Association

Feyisola Elegbede - African Student Organization

Isaac Wendel - The Herd

Justin Koenig - The Herd

Manal Ali - Biology Club

Neal Birchfield - Association for Computing Machinery 

Nevaya Deck - The Herd 

Sebastien Wilson - The Herd

Sean Tierney - Upsilon Pi Epsilon

Olivia Schowe - Generation Action

Outstanding Student Organization Award 
Accounting Society

Black Student Union

Generation Action

Mastodon Catholic

Tabletop RPG

The Herd

Spirit of the Mastodon Award 
Drake Turner

DEI Forward Award 
Brett Wilkinson

Disability Access Center Staff

Feyisola Elegbede

OUTspoken

Multicultural Center Staff

Building Block Award 
Gwenna Lehmann

Olivia Samuels

Undergraduate Student Employee of the Year Award 
Andrew Velez

Anna Olafsdottir

Antwanette Jacobs

Aurea Nazaire Alconera

Brian Waltz

Collins Karanja

Jamie Ewell

Karen Chaparro

Olivia Edens

Olivia Schowe

Perla Figueroa Fiallos

Riley Dickinson

Taiwo Oladapo

Tyler McClone

Victory Paw

Graduate Student Employee of the Year Award 
Drake Turner

Kaliyat Gamba

Student Supervisor of the Year Award 
Abbey Wang

Alexandra Backer

Gianna Casaburo

Paula Ashe

Service to Students Award 
Austin Decker

Brett Wilkinson

Jenna Hoppe

Joey Beaton

Kerrie Fineran

Rhonda Meriwether

Student’s Choice for Teaching Excellence Award 
Ann Livschiz

Brett Wilkinson

Elijah Denecke

Joel Givens

Kevin McMahon

Student Leader of the Year Award and Scholarship 
Allyssa Hennessey

SGA Member of the Year Award 
Maleah Boyd

Student Organization Advisor of the Year 
Jacob Allard

Student Organization Officer of the Year Award 
Neal Birchfield

Outstanding Student Organization Award 
Accounting Society

Spirit of the Mastodon Award 
Drake Turner

Commitment to Diversity Award 
Disability Access Center Staff

Building Block Award 
Gwenna Lehman

Student Employee of the Year Award 
Undergraduate: Aurea Nazaire Alconera
Graduate: Drake Turner

Student Supervisor of the Year Award 
Gia Casaburro

Service to Students Award 
Dr Kerrie Fineran

Student’s Choice for Teaching Excellence Award 
Brett Wilkinson

Students at an award banquet.

Awards Banquet

A Mastodon-worthy celebration. 

Each awards cycle features a banquet that honors all the nominees of the year. 

The date for our 2024 Student Leader Awards Banquet will be announced in January 2024.