Cascadia Community College recently honored four students for their outstanding leadership during the 2009-10 school year. Austin Richmond was selected to receive the Brett Webster Award for Exemplary Leadership. Emily Boling, Tania Scutt and Lisa Cooper were recognized with Founders Awards.
“All of our student leaders made excellent contributions to our campus this year. The award recipients should be proud of their accomplishments and know that they have truly made an impact on their fellow students,” says Vice President for Student Success Services Dr. Richard Carvajal.
The Brett Webster Award is the highest level of recognition that can be given to a student at Cascadia. The award is named in honor of the college’s first student government president. This year, Richmond provided exemplary leadership in a number of roles. He served as Cascadia Student Government vice president and as president of Cascadia’s National Society of Leadership and Success. In addition, he provided an essential student voice as a member of the committee appointed by the college trustees to search for candidates to become Cascadia’s next president. A veteran of the U.S. Navy, Richmond is studying to become a pediatric nurse.
Three Founders Awards are given to recognize exemplary service toward three of the college’s core values: community, environmental stewardship and diversity.
Boling received the Founders Community Award in recognition of the time and effort she devoted to enhancing the culture and spirit of the Cascadia community. While at Cascadia, Boling served out the terms of two Cascadia Student Government positions that became vacant during the year, assisted fellow students as a Peer Resource Officer and provided critical support as the Student Life Outreach Coordinator.
Scutt earned the Founders Environmental Stewardship Award. She holds the distinction of being the first student to enroll in the college’s rapidly expanding Environmental Technologies and Sustainable Practices (ETSP) program when it started in fall 2008. Scutt served as activities director for the Sustainable Energy Club this year and was instrumental in starting a bi-monthly speaker series on sustainable energy.
Cooper was selected to receive the Founders Diversity Award as a result of her work to foster an inclusive and welcoming environment at Cascadia. Cooper served as president of Cascadia’s Access Futures Club, which raises awareness of disabilities and assists in developing a network of support among students with disabilities. Her service at the college was enriched by the knowledge and experience she gained as the founder of an off-campus organization called One America that coordinates lectures on diversity issues and her involvement in the Youth Migrant Project and Mexican immigrant farm workers program.
The names of those chosen to be recognized for their leadership were announced at Cascadia’s Honors and Leadership Reception earlier this month. The students’ names will be engraved on perpetual plaques on display in the Kodiak Corner, Cascadia’s one-stop center for student services.
