On April 10, the Student Leadership and Service Awards hosted by Student Life took place in the Student Union Ballroom.
The ceremony also held the induction for Detroit Mercy’s Chapter of the National Society for Leadership and Success (NSLS). NSLS is a prestigious honor society which spotlights exemplary leaders on university campuses, providing them with rich opportunities and skill building to hone their leadership skills.
Some of the awards presented were:
- Rising Star Student Leader (First-Year Student or Sophomore): This award is given to a first-year student or sophomore level student that displays leadership qualities in many areas.
- Awarded to: Eemi Toma
- Student Leader of the Year (Junior or Senior): This award is given to a junior or senior level student that displays leadership in multiple areas.
- Awarded to: Morgen Rhodes
- Titan Spirit Award: This award is given to a student who demonstrates Titan Spirit every day.
- Awarded to: Luke Tomaszek
- Student Employee of the Year: This award is given to a diligent student that is employed on campus.
- Awarded to: Maria Cristal Guzmán
- Student Organization of the Year: This award is given to the registered student organization which has contributed positively to campus year-round.
- Awarded to: Political Science Student Association
- Program/Event of the Year: This award is given to a student or group of students who has hosted a phenomenal program on campus.
- Awarded to: National Organization of Minority Architecture Students
- The purpose of this ceremony is to honor the emerging leaders on campus and the impact of their accomplishments within the campus community.
These awards are presented annually every spring, closing out each Winter semester with well-deserved acknowledgement of the exemplary student leaders the campus nurtures.
Rhodes and Kelsie Shammami of the Political Science Student Association spoke about the impact of PSSA on campus and their personal contributions.
Rhodes is the president of PSSA and recipient of Student Leader of the Year and two other awards on behalf of Tri Sigma Beta Tau and PSSA. Shammami was present to receive an award on behalf of PSSA as well.
Rhodes and Shammami described the organization’s deep commitment to civic engagement on campus in addition to encouraging democratic values. With these values as pillars of the club, both are happy to receive recognition for the hard work that went into the programming of the club.
Some events they’ve done include collaborations with other political student organizations, a contact your representatives event, professional development workshops and even holiday parties.
Another goal of this club is to bring awareness to the way politics are present in our life and the interdisciplinary nature of politics.
Rhodes said, “ I think that there was a lot of student outreach and a lot of people realized political science isn’t something for only its students, it’s very interdisciplinary, again [for example] It affects architecture students, what type of houses you can build, where you can build them, how clean your drinking water is.”
Rhodes and Shammami expressed how they have noticed the organization bringing politically interested students on campus together on top of generally getting students more civically engaged.
