Outstanding Student Awards

Two separate awards are given each year to graduating seniors within the department who have displayed exemplary academic, service, dedication, commitment, and leadership abilities. The awards are voted on by the human development and family science faculty and are presented to the students at the annual Department Senior Banquet held each May. December graduates are eligible to receive these awards in May following their graduation.

Award Descriptions

Outstanding Senior Student Award - recognizes a department major for exceptional leadership and academic achievement. This individual's name is also engraved on the plaque that the Department displays throughout the year.

Outstanding Senior in Service and Leadership Award - a recently-established award, recognizes a department major for exceptional dedication and commitment. Though not always the case, the recipient of this award tends to be a member of the Executive Board of MCCFR, given the amount of service and dedication these students commit to ensure the success of their student organization.

2007-2008 Recipients

Outstanding Senior Student Award - Amanda G. Schoeneberger Amanda Schoeneberger is "exemplary in every way!" As President of MCCFR, she is a responsible, dedicated leader, empowering other officers to share in the leadership and work of the organization. As a faculty assistant, she has been absolutely superb. We can count on Amanda to do things in a timely fashion and to do them extremely well. She is creative and thoughtful in strategizing for events for the department and MCCFR. She is remarkable as an events planner, attending to the smallest of details.

Amanda may be one of the most organized people we have ever known. We look to Amanda for student perspective and value her insights. She has also extended a valuable voice as a diplomat as she shares her story of "finding" HDFS after having begun as a theatre major with our prospective students during open houses. As a student, Amanda is outstanding. She has an incredible ability to complete her course work with excellence, manage her time with precision and still remain flexible in the midst of it all. Amanda is also a stellar communicator. Her comments in class are insightful, inquisitive and plentiful (in a positive way). With a GPA in excess of 3.9, and after years of hard work, including an honors research project, Amanda is very deserving of the Outstanding Senior Student Award for exceptional leadership and academic achievement. Her passion for and commitment to excellence in HDFS make us very proud of her. We have no doubt that Amanda will go on to be a competent and respected leader in her field, particularly as she pursues her passions of strengthening military families.

Click here to read the abstract for Amanda's Departmental Honors Project, "Analyzing Premarital Education for Military Couples."

Outstanding Senior in Service in Leadership - Tawny L. Smay Tawny is a unique blend of quiet confidence and competence combined with assertive inquisitiveness and passionate values.Tawny has a vision for personal growth and service to others, that once your get to know her, carries a tangible sense of dedication and inertia. This combination of passion and excellence as devoted to the Lord will open many doors and windows as she seeks to serve and educate others. Tawny is inspirational in her hard work and commitment to her calling to serve Christ and his followers as a pastor within the Church. Her unwavering dedication to this calling was evident throughout her 4 years as she studied family science, determined to be well equipped to pastor families during the various life transitions they will encounter -- engagement, marriage, birth, death, marital problems, etc.

Tawny's acceptance to Duke University's Seminary is an outgrowth of her commitment to excellence and dedication. We have also greatly appreciated the wonderful model that Tawny has provided to prospective and current students as a department diplomat and faculty assistant. Her personal responsibility and dependability are very much appreciated.

Tawny also completed a Departmental Honors Project, "Analyzing Marital Enrichment Resources Employed in Churches." Click here to read her abstract for this project.