Celebration of Academic Excellence Awards

Honors Scholars are graduating students who have (or will complete) at least 15 credit hours in Honors courses by graduation. These graduating students maintained a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.2/4.0 and will receive the Honors Scholar designation on their transcripts. They are given a medal and gold cord to wear at Commencement.

Graduating Spring/Summer 2026

• Shaden Abdelrazeq
• Enana Abdulhussain
• Ana Paula Andrada
• Mohammed Ayman 
• Blake Baur
• Adam Brody 
• Hannah Campbell 
• Jade Cano
• Ishil Chaudhary
• Yahya Chowdhury 
• Aneesah Chowdhury
• Ethan Constantine
• Catherine Crousore 
• Apolinaria Deriy
• David Diep
• Ross Dumont-Snider 
• Isabel Eide 
• Alicia Figueroa 
• Ana Garcia Medina 
• Kelly Gbenimacho
• Nicholas Gillono 
• Carson Giordano 
• Alyza Grubich 
• Zaida Hernandez 
• Mason Hess
• Saw “Lawrence” Hser 
• Austin Kloska 
• Kristen Joyce Lopez 
• Nyi Nyi Lwin 
• Sophia Martincic
• Regina Mayer 
• Karol Melendrez 
• Arnas Meliukstis 
• Kassandra Mendoza
• Isabella Meza
• Yael Montes
• Milena Muche-Wilke
• Elaine Nguyen
• Dominic Pelliccioni
• Alexander Perry
• Kenneth Phan
• Yesenia Ramirez
• Natalie Rice 
• Justina Rodriguez Carrozzo 
• Adrian Ruman 
• Ilyass Sellouf 
• Inaaya Siddiqui
• Matthew C. Sioson 
• Valeriia Smolska
• Luke Sunderhaus
• Lily Threadgill
• Geysa Tumea 
• Miles Vang
• Matthew Ziolko
• Max Zuniga

Honors Scholar Candidates are graduating students who have earned (or will complete) at least 9 credit hours in Honors courses by graduation. These graduating students maintained a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.2/4.0. These students receive the Honors Scholar Candidate designation on their transcripts. They are given a gold cord to wear at Commencement.

Graduating Spring/Summer 2026

• Dante Aranda 
• Meredith Byrd 
• Kalin Daniel 
• Maeve Flaherty 
• Iliyah Naomi Knox 
• Julieta Mazuera 
• Owen McGrath
• Dayaneth Mendoza 
• Taryn Prater 
• Rima Shah 
• Olivia Williams

The following students received generous scholarships to the following schools:

• Regina Mayer, Benedictine University 
• Hannah Campbell, DePaul University 
• Nicholas Gillono, Elmhurst University 
• Ana Garcia Medina, North Central College
• Geysa Tumea, Northeastern Illinois University

• Austin Kloska 
• Angel Sanchez

Outstanding Graduate Finalists

• Asma Ajmeri
• Kalin Daniel 
• Ana Garcia Medina 
• Justina Rodriguez Carrozzo 
• Matthew Sioson 
• Cynthia Zuniga

Faculty members and staff nominated the following students for demonstrating academic excellence within a specific discipline, program or department:

• Giampaolo Asper, Art 
• Kayla Brabant, English 
• Clemson Brignall, Interior Design 
• Preshawnna L. Brown, Criminal and Justice Studies 
• Ishil Chaudhary, Computer and Information Science
• Kalin Daniel, Languages, Liberal Arts 
• Olivia Delgado, Theater Department
• Taylor DeStefano, Math
• Lauren Harvey, Human Services 
• Zaida Hernandez, Business/Management/Marketing 
• Emmanuel A. Juarez, Advising
• James Lucas, Political Science 
• Diego Morales-Perez, Physics 
• Divine Nkanga, Art Department 
• Amy Lissette Pineda Garcia, Physical Education, Fitness & Sport Studies Department
• Milomir Pljevaljcic, STEM-Chemistry
• Denise Ramos, Welding 
• Charlotte Ramsay, Speech
• Nora Schouten, Legal Studies
• Angela Schuman, NHS - DMIS
• Olivia Shetterly, Horticulture 
• Jalena Smith, Dance 
• Klaudia Sztafa, Athletics 
• Stephanie Tibble, Office Technology

The following students have completed the STEM Student Success Scholarship program funded by the National Science Foundation: 

• Adam Al Shekha 
• Ralph Beaupre 
• Ephrem Gedile
• Thomas Hung 
• Chelsie Jordan 
• Iliyah Knox 
• Radoslaw Lekawski
• Ahmad Mastan
• Milagros Mendez
• Tarun Nakkisetty 
• Linda Rivera
• Jermaine Shirlee 
• Volodymyr Stasyshyn
• Jonathan Tanase 
• Jenna Van Der Pol
• Joseph Walsh

Selected by the Honors Student Advisory Committee with input from the Honors Program students:

• Dr. Trina Sotirakopulos