Methodist College Spring 2024 Undergraduate Award Recipients Announced

"It is my privilege to nominate Emily Collins as the utmost deserving recipient of the Community Engagement Award. Emily has an anticipated graduation date of this upcoming August graduating with her Bachelors in Healthcare Management. Beyond serving as an excellent example, mentor to her peers, and tutor in the Center for Student Success, she has valuable contributions to Methodist College through college service and her local community.

At Methodist College, Emily has made quite an impact. She is an active member of Methodist College Global Brigades Chapter. Additionally, she serves on the student engagement committee. Emily organized a BBQ Food Night raising $200. In her local community, she volunteers at St. Thomas church to serve meals to the less fortunate or accompany those in need. Additionally, she participates in running St. Jude's and local charity runs. She also has a small kettle corn business where she hosts events that donate a certain percentage of proceeds back towards the fundraiser or organization. Emily is an excellent nominee for this award showcasing her leadership and participation in the community and college. Her dedication is far reaching and impactful at many levels."

"Addyson has shown herself to be a leader on Methodist College's campus. She has taken the initiative to chair the first chapter of Global Brigades in the Peoria, IL area. As this is written, fifteen students, faculty, staff, alums, and Carle nurses have joined the Brigade to travel to Panama from May 12 -18, 2024. Addison has worked to recruit students, communicate with students and the community, create and execute fundraisers, act as a liaison to Global Brigades, lead meetings, and other tasks as necessary. She does this all while maintaining a level of academic excellence."

"I would like to nominate Katie Curry for the Academic Excellent Award. I have known Katie for approximately 20 months. We first met when she enrolled in my PSY305 Gero-Health Psychology class. The intent of this course was to assist those students who needed the "middle" courses, one in social gerontology and one in clinical gerontology for the Gerontology Certificate move forward toward completion of the program. Much to my surprise, Katie asked to speak to me about the certificate program after completing the course--certainly not what I expected but it was a great opportunity for us to get to know each other better (PSY305 had been an online course). I have had her now in three other courses as she is working toward the minor in psychology (sadly, the certificate would not fit with her curriculum). At this point in time (Katie graduates in May), Katie's GPA is 3.65. She has been an exemplar student in my classes due the sophistication and maturity she shows in parsing the written assignments for my courses. Am I allowed to say that I particularly enjoy reading her essays as each one provides not only both sides of an issue in a nuanced manner; these also continue to explore possible outcomes if a person decides on one pathway rather than another? It has been a while since I have had a student whose joy of the written word was so evident. This was true across all 4 classes in which she has enrolled.

Right now, I have Katie in an arranged section of PSY302 (internship would not allow her to enroll in the face-to-face course), certainly a highlight of my week as we discuss in detail each chapter of the assigned textbook. Katie appears onscreen on TEAMS and interjects frequently throughout each class session, tying psychology into her final courses (and previous courses) at Methodist. Her written assignments, solid as usual, are interspersed with questions, a lot related to clinical work in dealing with an older adult who might face a particular dilemma. She is a responsible student, always prepared for class. As much as her written work shines, Katie is a born leader. In two of my courses, PSY400 and PSY203, she has taken the lead on team projects. No surprise, her team fulfills the requirements for their part of the team project. Her teammates rate her at the top level on the form that I use for these assessments (there are two, I am referring to rating form called, "Were we a team.") Katie is a real people person and has a knack of assigning the right person to the right job on a team project. Each person leaves the experience knowing that they were an important part of the project's success. 

Katie is a role model for her classmates. I almost never see her alone on campus. It is far easier to see her in the center of a student group coaching her classmates on materials she has mastered. This is another very important area in which she shines. It might be easy to say, sorry, can't help, life is too busy: not Katie! All of my courses have a service-learning project tied to them. In addition to group work for assignments, students begin to understand how other agencies (the organization for whom we do the service-learning project) fit within the fabric of our communities and contribute to the health of the community and its citizens. Katie articulates this well in the reflections that are required at the end of the service-learning project. She sets realistic goals for the project and has the capacity to be able to discern what was different about the project than she initially had thought."