Brevard College Holds Honors and Awards Ceremony

honors and awards

Brevard College held its annual Honors and Awards Ceremony on Tuesday, April 16, to honor students, faculty and staff achievement in academics and leadership. 

Dr. Scott Sheffield, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculty welcomed those in attendance and Rev. Sharad Creasman gave the opening prayer.

Brevard College President, Dr. David C. Joyce addressed the guests by saying, “This campus is alive! Education is the whole college experience, living on campus, performing in plays, creating your art, getting to know each other, playing your sport, and being involved in activities. All of this makes our liberal arts college special.”

The Academic Awards Ceremony honored Outstanding Student Majors in each division.

Awards went out to students for their Academic Program Presentations as well.

2019 Outstanding Student Awards went to the following students:

Jessica Wiegandt, WLEE Major Outstanding Senior; Kyle Spear, Outstanding Art Major; Daniel Ethridge, Outstanding Music Major; Sarah Haga, Outstanding Theater Performance; Teila Vochatzer, Outstanding Theater Design; Jessica Wiegandt, Outstanding English Major; Shannon Summitt, Outstanding Integrated Studies Major; Jennifer Welch, Clarion Service Award; Sarah Haga, Chiaroscuro Award; Megan Orr, Outstanding Biology Senior; Molly Riddle, Outstanding Environmental Studies Major; Mai Sakuma, Outstanding Exercise Science Senior; Ashley Hughes, Outstanding Health Science Studies Senior; Daniel Ethridge, Outstanding Mathematics Senior; Peter Trench, Jr., Outstanding Physics Senior; Kelsey Kushner, Outstanding Criminal Justice Senior; Mary Lewe, Outstanding Psychology Major; Molly “Bliss” Joseph, Environmental Stewardship Award.

Awards for Academic Program Presentations went to the following students:

Mariah Grande, Thomas Kennedy, Emily Robinson, Megan Kate Shina, Mickayla Smith, Shannon Summit, Peter Trench, and Jessica Wiegandt.

The Business and Organizational Leadership Program also awarded five leadership awards to the following students:

Christopher Efenecy, Ray Fisher Leadership Award; Rebeccah Rojas, Dr. Barbara Boerner Emerging Leader Scholarship Award; Megan Shina, Sustainable Leadership Award; Jezika Gunter, Mt. Pisgah Award; Xavier Mariduena, Grace Roy Award; Tim Hengst, BORG Highest Academic Achievement Senior.  

While most colleges invite prominent guest speakers at graduation ceremonies, Brevard College stays true to its mission to engage its students in the process and encourage personal growth by choosing two outstanding seniors to speak at commencement. Dr. Sheffield announced Megan Orr, a Biology major, and Haley Putnam, a Psychology major from Brevard as the 2019 Student Commencement Speakers.

Molly “Bliss” Joseph, Student Government President presented the awards for SGA Club of the Year to Ag Club Representative MaKayla Robinette and SGA Staff of the Year to Cindy Thomas. Dr. Maureen Drinkard, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies won the SGA Faculty of the Year Award. Joseph also announced the incoming Student Government body. Audrey Cardwell was elected as President; Sallie Riggan, Vice President; Rebecca Rojas, Secretary; Thom Kennedy, Treasurer. The position of Speaker of the Clubs will be appointed by the incoming SGA Executive Board.

To close the ceremony, the newly elected SGA President Audrey Cardwell made closing remarks. “I’m blessed to have learned from such an inspiring president, Bliss Joseph. I look forward to continuing the positive change on this campus.”

Brevard College is consistently recognized as one of the best liberal arts colleges. The College’s focus on experiential learning, small class sizes, and location the mountains of Western North Carolina near Asheville makes Brevard a top choice college for students around the world.