Fourteen students will receive awards that honor character and other admirable qualities at Saturday’s commencement ceremonies.

Every year, Student Life awards outstanding students with these awards. Each student was nominated by faculty and staff and had to meet certain qualifications to be considered for an award.

“The executive assistant to the vice president of student life gets the process going by gathering the nominations from faculty and staff and working with a committee of faculty, staff and students who meet to discuss and select those who will receive each award,” said Dr. Jan Meyer, interim vice president of Student Life and dean of students.

Among these awards are the B. Sherrod Scholarship, the Dean Adams Achievement Award, the Trustees award and Honor Man and Honor Woman.

“Some of the awards have money attached to them and some are recognition by the university, which are both very important,” said Sherita Nickerson, executive assistant to the vice president for Student Life and dean of students.

Recipients of the awards will be announced during graduation rehearsals on Friday.

“Most of these people don’t even know they’ve been nominated,”Nickerson said. “I had so many nominations this time where people just wrote so many nice things about the students. Some people were nominated several times by different faculty members – one student was nominated six times.”

The Dean Adams Award will be given to three students this year.

“The Dean Adams Award is about overcoming obstacles and really being able to persevere and still get your education,” Nickerson said. “The three students that have been selected this year have just had tremendous struggle, things that most people would have given up on.”

Commencement is a special time for Student Life largely because of these awards.

“It’s really exciting,” Nickerson said. “You get to see the students in such a different light.”

The student life office has been giving these awards for years now and hope to continue awarding students in years to come.

“It’s really a proud time for us in Student Life to see this and facilitate these awards,” Nickerson said.
The office of student life would not release the names of the recipients.