By Hanifah Jones, Staff writer
The Office of Leadership and Engagement hosted its first annual Leadership Awards this past Thursday, where organizations and individuals on campus were recognized for their accomplishments.
On Thursday, April 26th students and faculty gathered at the Lore Degenstein Art Gallery for the Leadership Awards reception. Students were awarded as individuals, by class year, and organization.
This is the first time that the Office of Leadership and Engagement (OLE), has hosted the awards. “We started thinking about better ways that we can recognize student leaders on campus.” said Nick Spicer, assistant dean of students.
“We got some folks from student life around the table and campus life and started talking about how we could recognize our student leaders,” said Spicer.
Recipients were nominated by their peers through an online form that was distributed to campus and on MySU. “About a month or so ago we put out a nomination form for students, staff and faculty to nominate students and staff for leadership awards,” said Spicer.
“There were about 28 student awards and one faculty award for Advisor of the Year. We got a pretty good response in terms of nominations which was really good to see. And then we got a committee of staff members who decided the winners with a few students on that committee,” said Spicer.
Bianca DiTrollio was one of the students who were awarded for their achievements. The recipient of the Senior of the Year award, DiTrollio is involved in SAC, Sons and Daughter of Italy, Varsity Women’s Soccer and Leadershape.
She is also a career ambassador for the Career Development Center. “I love seeing others grow just as much as I feel like I have,” DiTrollio, who is majoring in Public Relations said.
Ditrollio said: “When others are successful, the whole group is successful and being able to see that in others and point it out, letting them know they did a good thing is that little piece of confidence that I got from my peers when I first started out. I’ve seen many of the students that I work with grow in their roles in maturity, confidence and passion and that is how I was able to continue the great things I was a part of at SU.”
The total list of the award recipients is listed below:
Susquehanna University Leadership Award – Gabriela Marrero
Organization of the Year – Black Student Union
Dorothy M. Anderson Service Organization of the Year – Enactus
Greek Service Organization of the Year – Zeta Tau Alpha
Senior of the Year – Christina Martin, Meaghan Schoppe, Bianca DiTrolio, Jeremy Witter
Junior of the Year – Alyssa Miville, Abby Dawes, Nicki Hagarty, Tom Moran
Sophomore of the Year – Talia Basch, Stephanie Shirk, Annie Loeliger, Donovan Gayles
Outstanding First-Year – Serenity Sandstrom, Precious Emmanuel, Kaitlyn Gardineer, Samuel Emmanuel
Emily E. Bowling Outstanding Student Career in Service – Hannah Johnston
Lynn H. Askew Student Volunteer of the Year – Connor Hamilton
Organizational President Award – Eyana Walker
Outstanding Contribution to Intercultural Awareness – Abbie Wolfe
Leadershape Award – Genovee Dominguez
Leadership in Athletics – Rachel Sweger, Jessica Jozefiak
New Program Initiative – Rebekah Smith
Advisor of the Year – Catherine Dent