West Chester University held its annual ceremony to honor the students receiving the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities & Colleges Awards Program on Monday. The winners this year were abundant, with over 60 students receiving the prestigious honor.
The ceremony opened with a speech by President Weisenstein, who extended a warm welcome to recipients, family and friends who were in attendance and stressed that this was “a very distinctive honor.” He went on to point out that, while there were previous Who’s Who winners who went on to run for president of the United States, none of them had won. “Maybe one of you will be the first,” he said enthusiastically.
After President Weisenstein finished, Diane DeVestern, assistant vice president for student affairs, took the stage to talk about the Who’s Who program. The Who’s Who awards are shared by more than 2,800 schools throughout the country. Recipients are only considered if they have the whole package: they must be leaders on their school’s campus, involved in several activities and community service, and they also must maintain a high GPA. To say that the Who’s Who Award is prestigious would be an understatement. DeVestern also used her time onstage to introduce members of the committee who are in charge of choosing recipients and also to applaud those in the audience who nominated any students.
Francesca Cintorrino, a former Who’s Who Award recipient, then graced the stage to give her reflections on the award and discuss her experiences as a member of the Who’s Who Award Committee.
“What I learned from being on the Who’s Who committee was really just how amazing the students at West Chester are,” Cintorrino said. “It was really neat for me to see the behind-the-scenes work it took in picking the Who’s Who winners and it was interesting for me to see the criteria that goes into a true Who’s Who-er. I loved being the student speaker because I was able to give insight on what being an involved student means to me.”
When Cintorrino finished her speech, the Gracenotes, WCU’s all-female acapella group, took the stage, led by director Georgia La Rue, who was nominated for a Who’s Who Award, along with several of the other members of the group. They serenaded the audience with arrangements of “Mister Sandman,” “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” and Katy Perry’s “Wide Awake.”
Dr. Linda Lamwers, vice president for academic affairs and provost, gave a background of how the Who’s Who Award was founded after the Gracenotes finished their Katy Perry number. Finally, the time came to present the certificates.
Dr. Timothy Blair, dean of the College of Visual and Performing Arts, went first. He presented framed certificates and carnations to Elizabeth Amand, Carolyn Brown, Kevin Horne, Amanda Jones, Hanna Knauss, Georgia La Rue, Lois Hope Linton Dominick Matsko, Seth Miller, Elisabeth Patten, Michael Roche, and Christina Zampelli.
Next, Dr. Raymond Zetts took the stage to present certificates to the students of the College of Health Sciences, including Anthony Blubello, Jasmine Forster, Natalie Konieczny, Maria Martin, Lauren Salter, and Elizabeth Sherman.
After Dr. Zetts finished, the Dean of the College of Education, Dr. Kenneth Whitmer, awarded Megan Black, Paige Budin, Nathan Diehl, Garbo Goodkin, Skye Hisiro, Kaitlin Kearney, Colin Kirk, Lisa McMahon, Amy Millar, Ashley Murphy, Jaileen Rodriguez, Ashley Schmidt, Hannah Schmitz, Michelle Strausbaugh, and Wesley Strayer.
Dr. Christopher Fiorentino, dean of the College of Business and Public Affairs, presented next, giving awards to Sarah Bauknight, Rachel Biltz, Joseph Cooke, Rachel Daviduk, Patrick Durning, Timothy W. Fariss, David Goldenberg, Adam Goral, Taylor Lacey, Danielle Lewis, Abigail Lim, William Scanlan, Nikole Smith, Robert Trasatti, Tierny Ulmer, and Amanda Woolston.
Finally, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences Dr. Lori Vermeulen closed the ceremony by giving out the last of the awards. The recipients from this college were Kenneth Ayres, Megan Berberich, Ilana Berger, Lauren Bolden, Gloria Branch, Ruth Forese, Suzanna Hochberg, Christine Kingaman, Abdul Malik Muhammad, Stephanie Nemerofsky, Hannah Peters, Victoria Ravenelle, Jacki Shaffer, Lauren Simmons, Alexandra Smith, Victoria Spera, Daniel VanHassent, and Hannah Velez.
Clare Haggerty is a second-year student majoring in English. She can be reached at CH757342@wcupa.edu.
Jessica Guzzardo/Photo Editor