2024 Students Receive Awards for Achievement and Service
The following awards recognize Gonzaga students’ commitment to excellence and demonstration of intellectual and practical skills, plus practices of mind and heart.
Academic Honors
Highest GPA Class Awards for underclassmen: Nicola Ward (first-year), Tristan LaLonde (sophomore), Parker Wilkinson (junior) and Andrea Rosenwald (senior)
William J. Garrigan, S.J. Award – Emma Blais
Scholar Athletes
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Women’s Sports Scholar: Alicia Anderson and Willow Collins
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Men’s Sports Scholar: Oliver Andersson
Community Engaged Learning Student of the Year: James Coleman
College of Arts and Sciences
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Katherine Chicca – Senior Art Award
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Autymn Skye Wilde – Fr. Fredric Schlatter, S.J., Book Award
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Ely Ehly – Communication Studies Outstanding Student
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Lucy Kramer – Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Outstanding Senior
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Rafaela Lindnau Noronha – Critical Race and Ethnic Studies Outstanding Junior
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Carolyn Chadbourne – Academic Excellence and Citizenship Award for Dance Pedagogy
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Anna Wright - Academic Excellence and Citizenship Award for Dance Performance
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Lucy Brunelli, Bailey Damish, Harper Hamilton, Olivia Sandvik – Anthony T. Wadden & Michael B. Herzog Scholarship
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Delaney Sousa – Fr. William T. Costello, S.J., Outstanding English Major
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Jack Reuter – Phi Alpha Theta Award for Excellence in History
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Jolene Henrikson – Excellence in Arabic
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Camden Silver – Excellence in Japanese
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Marcella Allen – Excellence in Spanish
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Mia Mastrangelo – Excellence in German
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Claire Mallet, Aidan Noland – Martin P. Blum Scholarship Award for Excellence in French
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Nathan Adams – Outstanding Achievement in Filipino/Tagalog
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Grace Applegate, Grace Kirsch, Dora Huestis, Nathan Guest, Mary Browne: Jo Merwin Scholarship
School of Business Excellence Awards: Julia Jakubik and Andrea Rosenwald
School of Education:
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Kelly Bender – Excellence Award in Elementary Education
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Meredith Rupe – Excellence Award in Secondary Education
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Maddie McElroy – Excellence in Special Education.
School of Engineering and Applied Science Outstanding Senior: William Newhoff
School of Leadership Studies: Protas Lembetia – Leadership and Accompaniment Award
School of Health Sciences:
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Lily Nelson – Outstanding Human Physiology Student. She aspires to work on healthcare system reform and continuing her education in Cork, Ireland, for an interdisciplinary master’s program in Health and Society. She is most proud of her honors thesis work on the construction of the female body in medicine and philosophy.
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Sierra Martinsen – Outstanding Bachelor of Science in Nursing student. Sierra led the Gonzaga Student Nursing Association with several impacting community service projects. Her extensive hands-on experience helped her land a summer job at Harborview Medical Center in Seattle, and she plans to become a Nurse Practitioner in the future.
Forrest P. Ewens Servant Leadership Award: Kaitlyn Edwards
This honor is named for a 2004 ROTC grad who died during military operations in Afghanistan; the award encourages others to live life in service to others. Edwards was selected this year for her activity in numerous organizations and the qualities of honor, loyalty and integrity.
Magis Awards
The Student Affairs division has a 32-year history of acknowledging academic success in student engagement, leadership, advocacy and community spirit. Named the Magis Awards, these honor the Jesuit concept of “the more or better.”
Fr. Jerome Nadal Returning Adult Award: Nicholas Wunderle (shown above left)
Named for one of the original companions of St. Ignatius of Loyola, this honor goes to an exemplary returning adult student, over the age of 25. Wunderle earned an associate’s degree at a community college, making the dean’s list all three quarters while working full-time. He transferred to Gonzaga while working in Las Vegas, traveling back and forth from Spokane to earn a bachelor’s degree in mathematics with a statistics concentration.
Gonzaga Award for Solidarity in Action: Zoe Reinhold (shown above right)
This award recognizes a senior who has engaged in the work of solidarity by using their voice through advocacy and activism to engage and lead their peers in holding the university accountable to its goals of being a just, equitable, and inclusive learning community. Reinhold was present for the racist [Black Student Union] Zoom assault. She navigated that difficult experience with grace and dedicated herself to pushing our community to reflect the values it claims. Her efforts included academic and service leadership, such as an honors thesis project examining the experience of marginalized students, working with faculty to develop an alternative registration practice to reduce systemic racism, which was implemented, and serving many diversity and equity organizations. Reinhold aspires to provide medical care for diverse and under-served children in order to address health inequities in our society.
James Coleman received two major honors: The University Ignatian Award and the Community Engaged Learning Student of the Year.
University Ignatian Award: James Coleman
This award recognizes a graduating senior who has actively modeled the values of Ignatian Spirituality with significant commitment to leadership and selfless service to the Gonzaga University community. His nominator wrote: “I have no doubt that he will continue to excel and make significant contributions wherever his path may lead him. His passion for learning, dedication to service, and his exceptional leadership qualities make him an outstanding candidate for any opportunity he pursues.” Coleman achieved bachelor’s degrees in psychology business administration. He is heading into a year of full-time service with the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Boston.
Protas Lembetia received two major honors: The Sue Weitz Spirit of Gonzaga Award and the Leadership and Accompaniment Award from the School of Leadership Studies.
Sue Weitz Spirit of Gonzaga Award: Protas Lembetia
Named for a long-standing vice president for student life, this award is given to a student whose time has focused on building bridges amongst constituents and working to unify the student body. Lembetia “will always advocate for what is right and has the strength and courage to address actions or behaviors that are not in alignment with Gonzaga’s mission as a university, which is critical in building community that is inclusive and welcoming for all,” one nominator wrote.
Saint Aloysius Award for Faith and Service: Kate Gardner (pictured above)
Named after St. Aloysius Gonzaga, the patron saint for youth and students, this award honors a student whose faith leads them into places of brokenness to be a presence of healing and transformation. Gardner has “embodied the kind of commitment to a life of faith through consistent critical engagement and curiosity,” wrote a nominator.
The final two are the highest distinctions in Gonzaga Student Affairs.
Philomathea Lindberg Loyalty Award: Gabriela Marquis (above left)
Recipients of this award must graduate with a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or above, progress in student leadership and exemplify dedication to the Gonzaga community. A faculty nominator said Marquis “manifests the mission of our university more than most of the students with whom I have come into contact over my last 15 years, being a person for others, while still being true to oneself and making our campus safer and more welcoming for a diverse population beyond their own Jewish and LGBTQ+ community.”
Carl Lindberg Loyalty Award: Micah Bell (above right)
Recipients of this award must graduate with a cumulative GPA of 3.50 or above, progress in student leadership and exemplify dedication to the Gonzaga community. This student’s faculty nominator wrote: “He was very impressive in introductory biology – easily in the top 1% of the many hundreds of students that I have taught in that class. I invited him to join my research lab where he has taken the lead on a complex, technically-challenging study.” Bell is also an Act Six scholar, a resident assistant and a tutor who also volunteered as a nurse aid in local hospitals.