College students honored with leadership awards

Each spring, the University and the College honor a select number of student leaders for their contributions to the campus and its surrounding community. Students receive Student Leadership and Service Awards for contributions to any part of campus life, from performing arts to intercollegiate athletics to community service. This year’s winners were recognized at the 44th Annual College Honors Assembly and the University Community Service Center Volunteer Recognition Reception.

Howell Murray Alumni Association Award
The Howell Murray Alumni Association Award, one of the College’s highest honors, recognizes graduating seniors who have made outstanding contributions to the University through a range of co-curricular activities. These students have made long-term, significant contributions to the broadest range of people in the campus community because of their concentrated dedication to a number of organizations. The recipients of the $500 awards are Shahnaz Chowdhry, Amy Gleisner, Travis Hooper, Veena Iyer, Paul Kaufman, E.J. Last, Carol Lin, Sara Musallam, Julie Patel, Sarah Richter, William Schmenner and Saket Soni.

Herbert J. Morris Memorial Prize
The Herbert J. Morris Memorial Prize recognizes a degree candidate (College senior or graduate/professional-degree candidate) who has made significant contributions in a single co-curricular endeavor. Fourth-year Priyank Sean Gupta has received the $200 prize for his dedication to the South Asian Students Association.

Jane Morton and Henry C. Murphy Award
The Jane Morton and Henry C. Murphy Award recognizes student leaders, undergraduate or graduate students in good academic standing who have made exceptional and unique contributions to the University community. The winners of the $400 awards are: Bryce Corrigan for his leadership as co-president of Queers & Associates and work at the Free Press and Unitarian Universalist campus ministry; Nicholas Lopez for his leadership in M.e.Ch.A. and his work in the College Admissions Office; and joint winners÷Niels Bradshaw, Max Gomberg, Jennifer Ohlson and Lauren Whitley÷for their work with a range of environmental and student organizations to produce the ECOncert for Earth Day 2000.

Outstanding New Leader Award
This new award, created with the support of an anonymous donor, honors up to two first- or second-year students who have demonstrated leadership promise through their contributions to student life and student organizations. The recipients of this $200 prize are second-years Mobolaji Akintunde and Marissa Graciosa. Akintunde has contributed to the Major Activities Board, Organization of Black Students and served as an orientation aid for his fellow commuter students. Graciosa has contributed to Samahan, Men in Drag and the University Theater School Partnership Program.

The Perry Herst Prize
The Perry Herst Prize has been awarded to two fourth-year students, Veena Iyer and Samara Potter, who have successfully combined study with social responsibility. Both recipients received a $1,000 prize.

Iyer has dedicated herself to bettering women’s lives, especially those who are survivors of domestic violence and rape. Iyer was a rape victim’s advocate for two years, providing emergency service and counseling. She also volunteered at Apna Ghar, a shelter in Chicago for South-Asian women who have experienced domestic violence. Iyer received a Human Rights Program fellowship to do research for her bachelor’s thesis at Majlis, a legal and cultural center in India.

Potter has focused her attention on young people of Chicago’s South Side as a volunteer private tutor and through her involvement with the Washington Park Youth Program. In addition to her fund-raising efforts for the organization, Potter volunteered as a mentor for young girls and most recently designed a program that allows them to learn to sew. Potter also worked as a teacher’s assistant in a second-grade classroom at Carnegie Elementary School through the Neighborhood Schools Program. She channeled her frustration with teaching in a grade school that does not offer recess into her bachelor’s thesis, arguing the importance of recess in public schools.

The President’s Volunteer Service Award
The President’s Volunteer Service Award is conferred on two University students who have demonstrated a superior commitment to service in the greater community during the past academic year.

Third-year Niels Bradshaw received the award for his work in the student organization Skating on the Midway. He coordinated more than 60 volunteers who helped teach area children how to ice skate. Bradshaw’s efforts tripled the program’s size to reach 600 children from Chicago’s South Side.

Third-year Sanjay Patel was selected for his work as the co-director of Student Teachers, a volunteer teaching program. In just two years, Patel has doubled the number of students in the program, reaching 180 students in the fourth through eighth grades. University student volunteers teach reading and creative writing and inspire inquisitive thinking at local public schools. Through Patel’s efforts, the number of University student volunteers has nearly doubled to 46.

Both students received a $500 prize.

Maroon Key Society
As members of the College’s honorary society, second- and third-year students in the Maroon Key Society serve as advisers to the Dean of the College and the Dean of Students in the College. Members are especially active in co-curricular activities, are good communicators and have strong academic records. The new members are: Nathapong Arunakul, Bryce Corrigan, J. Fostin Cotchen, Neha Desai, Miriam Dreyer, Nina Farnia, Anna Flores, Kamilah Foreman, Susan Gaunt, Christina Hardy, Irene Hodes, Kristopher Jones, Rohini Jonnalagadda, Meredith Klein, Nicholas Lopez, Arielle Lutwick, Maria Meginnes, Anne Newman, Lenore Palladino, D. Colleen Peterson, Anne Pizzi, Jessica Post, Alvin Quinones, Charles G. Rhoads, Catherine Roberts, Laurence Schwartztol, Adrienne Stauffer, Zachary White and Lauren Whitley.