In the Student Spotlight: April 5, 2019

Kudos to these students

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  • The Hispanic Student Convocation Committee is seeking nominations to recognize three outstanding Latino graduating seniors and one outstanding graduate student. Please return completed award/nomination forms for the following to pablo@nau.edu by 5 p.m. April 19.
    • Cesar Chavez Award: Recognizes students with strong leadership skills, a demonstrated care and concern for fellow students and a history of involvement on behalf of the Hispanic community.
    • Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz Award: Recognizes students with demonstrated leadership abilities, strong attachments to their cultural heritage and demonstrated advocacy regarding women’s rights.
    • Gabriela Mistral Award: Recognizes students with a strong commitment to education and promoting multicultural understanding.
    • Outstanding Hispanic Graduate Student: Recognizes a graduate student that serves as a positive role model for undergraduate colleagues; a student with strong leadership skills, a demonstrated care and concern for fellow students and a history of involvement on behalf of the Hispanic community.
  • Freshman Adrianna Sosnowska was named the Big Sky Women’s Tennis Player of the Week. This is the first time Sosnowska has won the award in her career as well as the first time this season the conference has selected a league freshman to receive it. Following an unbeaten 4-for-4 performance against Portland State and UTEP, Sosnowski improved her singles record to 10-4 and doubles record to 9-6.
  • Tennis player Chiara Tomasetti moved back into the Oracle/ITA Division I Women’s Rankings, coming in at No. 118 in the national rankings released by the Intercollegiate Tennis Association. Tomasetti leads the Big Sky Conference in No. 1 singles wins and her 14 dual-match victories rank second overall in the league. She is the only conference player nationally ranked in either singles or doubles.
  • A number of students were honored at the Golden Eagle Awards, which recognize the university’s top student-athletes for significant contributions in the classroom and athletics. Student-athletes with a 3.0 GPA or better are eligible for the award. A full list of recipients can be found on the athletics web page.
    • Hanneke Lodewijks of the women’s tennis team was named top Female Scholar-Athlete with a 4.0 GPA in exercise science and one of the most decorated careers in women’s tennis program history; her doubles win percentage is third all-time and her singles wins place her second all-time.
    • Kyle Havriliak, a member of cross country/track & field teams, was named top Male Scholar-Athlete with a 3.75 GPA in criminology and criminal justice. Havriliak has been a member of NCAA National Cross Country Championship teams in 2016-18 and set a new personal best in the 3000-meter run this season.
    • Noteworthy teams producing recipients: football team (35); women’s cross country and track & field (28); soccer (27); swimming and diving (26); men’s cross country and track & field (21); women’s basketball (14 of 15); volleyball (14 of 16); golf (6 of 7); women’s tennis (6 of 8).
  • Students in the German Club and ENG 411C Capstone course collaborated on an act of support after recent vandalism at the Jewish Community Center. More than 50 handmade aluminum foil and paper hearts were created with messages of kindness written in German, Hebrew and English. The hearts were placed at the site of the Chabad to demonstrate that NAU stands with the Flagstaff community in representing diversity and inclusivity.
  • A number of students, along with some faculty, in the English Department’s applied linguistics program represented the university at three spring conferences:
    • Doctoral students Panjanit Chaipuapae and Shi Chen and professor Soo Jung Youn presented at the Language Testing Research Colloquium.
    • Doctoral students Larissa Goulart, Brett Hashimoto, Daniel Keller, Mark McAndrews, Jihye Shin, Tyler True and Katherine Yaw and professors Youn, Bill Crawford, Vedran Dronjic, Jesse Egbert, Okim Kang, Luke Plonsky, Meghan Moran, Fredricka Stoller and Jersus Colmenares (global languages and cultures) presented at the American Association for Applied Linguistics conference.
    • Master’s student Oguzhan Tekin and professors Stoller, Randi Reppen and Bill Grabe presented at the international TESOL (Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages) convention.
Tallie Valverde