Southwest Virginia Community College Students Honored at Annual Awards Day Ceremony

Published on April 1st, 2022

Southwest Virginia Community College honored students at annual Awards Day ceremony.

Each year, beginning in 2019, faculty nominate students for academic excellence in their various programs of study as well as exemplary participation, leadership, or service in college clubs and organizations. Workforce students are also honored for their work while earning credentials and, for the first time, athletes were honored for their achievements. The Student Government Association (SGA) also select their top faculty and staff to honor on behalf of the student body.

The student awards include:

• Outstanding Achievement – Recognizes students who show outstanding exceptional improvement, growth, commitment or learning development in an academic subject.
• Program Leadership & Service – Recognizes students that demonstrate outstanding leadership and service within their program of study.
• Most Earned Program Credentials – Recognizes students that have received the highest number of credentials within their program.
• Club Leadership & Initiative – Recognizes club officers or members who have demonstrated motivation, initiative or leadership within a club or organization.
• Dean’s Award – Selected by the academic division dean for academic achievement.

This year’s award recipients are as follows:

For the Business, Engineering, and Industrial Technology division:

Outstanding Achievement

• Software Engineering, Logan Ashby
• HVAC Certificate, Benjamin Ball
• Automotive Technologies, Mckenzie Brewster
• Information Systems Technology, Noah Brewster
• Welding, Avery Chaffin
• Engineering Freshman of the Year, Liyah French
• Cybersecurity Career Study Certificate, Dakota Honaker
• Business Administration, Matthew Powers
• Welding, Hunter Ritchie
• Precision Machining Career Study Certificate, John Smith Jr.
• Engineering Sophomore of the Year, Joshua Thiel
• Advanced Precision Machining Career Study Certificate, Matthew Tignor
• Medical Coding, Madeline White
• Accounting, Taylor Wilson

Program Leadership & Service

• Welding, Avery Chaffin
• Advanced Precision Machining Career Study Certificate, Michael Cruey
• Precision Machining Career Study Certificate, Justin Wright

Most Earned Program Credentials

• Advanced Precision Machining Career Study Certificate, Aaron Vanhoozier

Dean’s Award

• Business Administration, Matthew Powers

For the Health Technologies division:

Outstanding Achievement

• Human Anatomy & Physiology, Jessey Ball
• Nursing , Tausa Fuller
• Nursing, Emily Roller
• Biology, Andrea Smith

Most Earned Program Credentials

• Nursing, Chessis Billips
• Nursing, Huong “Lisa” Nguyen

Dean’s Award

• Radiology Technology, Calvin Guertler
• Nursing, Huong “Lisa” Nguyen

For the Arts & Sciences division:

Outstanding Achievement

• English, Mitchell Bostwick
• American Literature, Hannah Boyd
• Administration of Justice – 1st Year, Atlee Dean
• Agribusiness, Isabel Gilbert
• Administration of Justice – 2nd Year, Logan Goss
• Agribusiness, Anthony King
• Human Services, Lora Presley
• Agribusiness, Connor Snead
• Public Speaking, Vanessa Uwase
• Psychology, Abigail Young

Program Leadership & Service

• Agribusiness, Isabel Gilbert
• Administration of Justice, Trinity Terry

For the Workforce and Continuing Education division:

Outstanding Achievement

• Commercial Driver’s License, Donnie McGhee
• AWS Welding, Richard Silcox

Most Earned Program Credentials

• NCCER Core, NCCER Plumbing, NCCER Carpentry, NCCER Masonry, Jonathan Hurley

Dean’s Award

• Pharmacy Technician, Mark Trenthem

For the Athletics department:

Basketball

• All Region – Second Team, Brennan Howard
• All Region – Second Team, Liyah French
• All Region – Third Team, Saveon Falls

Volleyball

• All Region – Second Team, Alexa Fiser
• All Region – Second Team, Anneliese White
• All Region – First Team, Ann Frisk

Awards for campus Clubs and Organizations went to:

Club Leadership & Initiative

• The Game Room Club, Samuel Amos
• Student Government Association, Samuel Amos
• Student Government Association, Savanna Busick
• Nursing Club, Leigh Ann Horn
• Nursing Club,  Abigail Jones
• Nursing Club, Aaron Steele
• Student Government Association, Skylar Vance
• Student Government Association, Anneliese White
• Student Government Association, William Whited
• Strategic Planning Committee, Megan Young

Honors Participation

• Honors, Hannah Carter
• Honors, Isabel Gilbert
• Honors, Elisabeth Hale
• Honors, Lauren Lester
• Honors, SarahBeth Rose
• Honors, Sara Siebenhaar
• Honors, Joshua Thiel
• Honors, William Whited

Program Leadership & Service

• Honors, Logan Ashby

The Student Government Association presented the following awards to faculty and staff:

• Outstanding Faculty Advisor, Jacob Richardson
• Outstanding Instructor, Kevin Stilwell
• Outstanding Student Service, Joe Magee
• Outstanding Student Success Advisor, Christopher Hess

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About Southwest Virginia Community College: Established in 1967, Southwest Virginia Community College is a two-year institution of higher education serving primarily the residents of the counties of Buchanan, Dickenson (partial), Russell and Tazewell. Offering more than 80 programs of study, Southwest has served more than 109,000 students since opening. In addition to credit-based programs, Southwest offers fast-track training and industry recognized credentials. For more information, please visit http://www.sw.edu

About Virginia’s Community Colleges: Since 1966, Virginia’s Community Colleges have given everyone the opportunity to learn and develop the right skills so lives and communities are strengthened. By making higher education and workforce training available in every part of Virginia, we elevate all of Virginia. Together, Virginia’s Community Colleges serve approximately 241,000 students each year. For more information, please visit www.vccs.edu.