Northern Arizona honored the outstanding members of the Class of 2026 at a ceremony Tuesday night for the President’s Prize and Gold Axe winners and Distinguished Seniors.
This year’s class is composed of 50 Gold Axe winners, including six President’s Prize winners—the highest honor awarded to undergraduate students. Additionally, 10 students were honored as Distinguished Seniors of their colleges.
“Each of these students has left a mark on NAU—they’ve led, they’ve served, they’ve spoken up and they’ve lifted others along the way,” President José Luis Cruz Rivera said. “And their impact reaches far beyond campus—into neighborhoods, organizations and communities that are better because of them and reflect the very best of what it means to be a Lumberjack.”
The President’s Prize winners are:
- Beau Arenas Ortiz, a visual communication major who mentored high school students in the Hispanic/Latine Media Workshop, interned with NAU Athletics and was president of the Latine Student Union, which he called his greatest accomplishment at NAU because of the opportunities it provided him to connect with others and contribute to a community that became his home.
- Jadyn Fisher, an elementary education major who served in ASNAU, participated in undergraduate research and studied abroad in New Zealand and said the highlight of her NAU career was serving as a student regent on the Arizona Board of Regents, a position that required her to be confirmed by the Arizona Senate; during her two years as a regent she advocated for student mental health and addressed basic needs like food and housing.
- Anahi Gonzales, a social work major, who did an internship in elementary-based counseling at a local elementary school, studied abroad in Italy, mentored low-income and first-generation college students in their transition to college and was a Peer Jack; she credits her experiences at NAU with helping her become a mentor and a leader in her community and is starting a master’s program at NAU in the fall.
- Báásè Pike, a business economics major and president of the NAU Council of Indigenous Ambassadors, who interned with the San Carlos Apache Tribe Department of Finance and Revenue and volunteered with many Tribal activities, including preparing meals for the San Carlos Apache Hotshots during wildfire response efforts and sharing traditional education with Flagstaff High School students. Serving as president of NCIA and leading the club to connect with other Indigenous peoples was a highlight of her career.
- Leonardo Alberto Rojas, a mechanical engineering major and transfer student to NAU-Yuma, who led the drivetrain and gearbox development of Yuma’s Baja SAE off-road vehicle engineering team and volunteered at multiple STEM outreach events in Yuma. He participated in undergraduate research and engineering internships and said the highlight of his NAU career was co-founding the NAU Yuma Mechanical Engineering Club, which aimed to bring opportunities to Yuma through partnerships with statewide firms.
- Jordyn Smith, a fitness wellness major, who used her experiences with Usher syndrome, a genetic disorder affecting vision and hearing, to help younger children with the same syndrome through working at Ava’s Voice Camp and volunteering as an ambassador. While at NAU she studied abroad in Italy and coordinated a screening of “Blind AF.” Her experience in a sorority gave her opportunities for leadership that she’d shied away from in high school, which enabled her to find her place at NAU and with herself.
Gold Axe winners are: Beau Arenas Ortiz; Katianna Blackwell-Scott; Devin Brimmer; Tim Brown; Wren Carr; Chloe Coonrod; Abraham Denstaedt; Kelianne Devlin; Cesar Duarte II; Lauren Eisenhart; Samantha Fagan; Lucas Dario Figueroa; Jadyn Fisher; Katherine Fleury; Kevin Forrestal; Samantha Gallegos; Gavin Georgiou; Karina Gonzalez; Venetia Hill; Aiden Jarembo; Lauryn Kelly; Kilara Kent; Evan Landis; Rachel Lemons; Ellen Liebig; Anaiah Lisk; Sakina Lord; Myleen Maldonado; Margaret Mayhook; Zachary McDaniel; Giselle Mendoza; Lucas Morais; Elsa Musselman; Ronin Nelson; Amaya Pablo; Cydnie Perkins; Báásè Pike; Kayla Riggs; Briana Rivera; Kate Roark; Leonardo Alberto Rojas; Brianna Christine Roney; Jordyn Smith; Eesha Tur-Raazia Syeda; Melanie Vega; Cayla Vient; Isis Villagomez; Katelynn Villanueva; and Joshua Wilson.
Distinguished Seniors are: Sonora Rain Orchard, College of Arts and Letters; Cheyenne Pettigrew, College of Education; Ellen Liebig, College of the Environment, Forestry, and Natural Sciences and a member of the Honors College; Marlee Hewlett, College of Health and Human Services and a member of the Honors College; Joya Byrnes, College of Nursing; Tayler Bulman, College of Social and Behavioral Sciences; Vicky Oldham, NAU Online; Tyler Harvick, NAU Yuma; Janelle Sanchez, Steve Sanghi College of Engineering; and Alessandra Jimenez, The W. A. Franke College of Business.
Gold Axe winners came from a pool of applicants selected by a campus committee. The program is led by the Office of Leadership & Engagement and co-sponsored by NAU Alumni and ASNAU. Distinguished Seniors are selected by their colleges.
Gold Axe winners
Distinguished Seniors
Not pictured:
- Tyler Harvick, NAU Yuma, Biological and Natural Resource Sciences
- Alessandra Jimenez, The W. A. Franke College of Business, Management