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Celebration of Learning awards

Campus-wide awards

Center for the Study Of Ethics Annual Essay Contest

1st Place: Finley Snyder, “Deportation and Death: Examining the Second Trump Administration’s Immigration Policy Through the Lens of Just War Theory”

2nd Place: Georgi Feigley, “Pacifism and Negligence in Our Modern Era Ignoring Crises for It Being Political”

3rd Place: Brian Felleson, “Exceptional by Design: How American Identity Shapes Global Power and Prosperity”

Honorable Mention 1: Primo Moreno, “Ethical Issues in the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence”

Honorable Mention 2: Traidan Hier, “Materialism: What Do We Lose by Focusing on Having More?”

Nils Hasselmo Award for Academic Pursuit

Gaia Splendor and Leroy Gawu-Mensah

Tredway Library Prize for First-Year Research

Derek Truong (winner) and Selina Osebre Yawson (honorable mention)

Arthur E. and Dorothy Dahl Leadership Scholarship

Dipti Sharma

Freistat Awards

Freistat Student Language Award: Sophia Mitchell, Ainsley Kness, Vanessa Gerardo

Freistat Center Peace & Justice Studies Award: Rachel Barry, Olivia Bernius, Nikola Jensen

Freistat Center Faculty Conference Awards: Jeff Mettler and  Lena Hann

Freistat Center Faculty Research Awards: Umme Al-Wazedi, Rachel Lockart, Naveen Kumar Jain

2026 Texas Medical Center Summer Research Internship

Soulaima Ben Ismail, Lee Charles, Tenzin Coedon, Cristina Costa, Yasmine El Mezouari, Felicita Giorgia, Alexis Finley, Kevin Flannery, My Ha, Huy Nguyen, Alyssa Mowry, Ximenia Osorio, Nepa Shahi, Avery Spacek, Nhi Tran Phuong Phan, Jordyn Swanson

SAGA Art And Literary Magazine Awards

Art Award
1st Place: Bethany Yanchick
2nd Place: Claire Dietz
3rd Place: Addon Rogers
Honorable Mention: Claire Dietz

Prose Award
1st Place: Gaia Splendore
2nd Place: Vivian Bornhoeft
3rd Place: Vivian Bornhoeft
Honorable Mention: Elaina Adlfinger

Poetry Award
1st Place: Rebekah Kalmbach
2nd Place: George Young
3rd Place: Pez Owens
Honorable Mention: Larissa Hope

Barbara Anderson Miller Award for Best All-Around Piece In The Magazine: Rebekah Kalmbach

Cover Art Award: Alexandra Bohac

Honor Council Service Recognition

Ben Aumuller, Emma Blezien, Ian Empen, Nimeni Getahun, Marisa Gilio, Jaxson Hicks, Sierra Jelinek, Joey Maish, Paloma Martinez Palomares, Adi Walker

Audre Lorde Writing Prize

Long And Short Analytical Essays

1st Place: Queer Okayness & The Modernist Influence: A New Form of Queer Poetics in Ocean Vuong’s Night Sky with Exit Wounds” by Sophia Behnke (Instructor: Kiki Kosnick)

2nd Place (Tie): “Addiction and Dalits: The Impact of India’s CastSystem” by Ava Jackson (Instructor: Umme Al-wazedi)

2nd Place (Tie): “Transnational Surrogacy: Considering the Full Impact” by Morin Windle (Instructor: Umme Al-wazedi)

Honorable Mention: “Sexed and Silenced: How The Round House Signals Against Rape Culture” by Gaia Splendore (Instructor: David Crowe)

Creative Expression Entries

1st Place: “Iphigenia’s Blood, Clytemnestra’s Burden” by Alyssa Ogrodny (Instructor: V. Phipps)

2nd Place: “velcro” by Sarah Welker (Instructor: Anne Heide)

Vazquez-Valarezo Poetry Award

1st Prize: Madeline Hutchinson — “Liberty”
2nd Prize: Wren Thul — “Watching the Screen”
3rd Prize: Finley Snyder — “To my Queer Siblings”

Pi Kappa Lambda Class Honors Awards

First-year — Melody Coffer, Lucy Wold
Sophomore — Kade Cornn, Ella Hansen, Haven Perdomo
Junior — Stephanie Skrabacz
 

Departmental awards

Business Administration

Business Administration Graduates with Honors

Mark Addison, Sasha Botsul, Joshua Bohrer, Hayden Boushele, Andrew Bryant, Grant Carkner, Nicolas Delgado Rodriguez, Emma Fagla, Michael Garland, Katherine Gass, Sonam Gurung

International Business Administration Graduates with Honors

Tomas Jimenez-Meifren Mamarbachi, Holland (Hattie) Timerman

Swanson Scholarship

Mohared Benbrahim, Lydia W. Benesh, Samyam Bista, Alaina Carter, Lindsay M. Debuhr, Santiago Diaz, Brian D. Felleson, Jaden R. Gocken, Nguyen T. Hoang, Huyen T. Nguyen, Fatima Martinez Gallegos, Francesca Mastrangeli, Mai P. Nguyen, Simeon Ommen, Luke J. Petersen, James G. Pigoni, Linh H. Vo, Leah C. Wieland, Jaymee L. Vollmer, Tommy Weber, Landon D. Wierenga

Montgomery Scholarship

Cailin Ambrosia, Ceris Askelsen, Stephanie Beley, Will Bussan, Celeste Calderon-De Haro, Alicia Fontenla Llaudes, Grace Gillespie, Bethel Girma, Giselle Koonce, Imane Mansouri, Ben Munoz-Ripley, Wyatt Nelson, Vy Nguyen Phan, Natalie Perra, Aiden Salcedo, Zahra Waqar, Jacob Wolf

Communication Sciences and Disorders

Donald C. Davis Scholarship: Rhiannon Allison, Sophia Evans, Ava Lannen

Student Research Award: Liam Christian, Sutton Gaines

Economics

Thomas C. Montgomery Scholarships: Alden Brinkmeier, Ryan Crowe, Jorge Gordillo-Ramirez, Josh Lim, Fatima Martinez-Gallegos, Simeon Omme

Bruce R. Milligan Scholarships: Benjamin Buhl,  Enkhjin Byambadorj, Sofia Cheng Morales, James Davis, Nhi (Linh) Nguyen

English

Tom and Wanda Hanson Scholarship in English Studies: Olivia Julian

Math and Computer Science

Pi Mu Epsilon Honors Society (PME): Kassidy Anderson, Luke Dalzell, Aidan Hancock, Ian Palmroos, Sienna Ridgley, Alexander Sell, Riordan Smith

Al-Khwarizmi Honors Society (aK): Sean Abracia-Wendel, Zekarias Asaminew, Lucas Clayton, Robert Dickerson, Leroy Gawu-Mensah, Benjamin Georgia, Aidan Hancock, Mackenzie Lauridsen, Benedict Milner, Primo Moreno, Parker Morrissey, Lucas Rettig, Hoang Trieu, Abdul-Salam Zakaria

Music

Webster Vocal Competition

The Webster Vocal Competition was established through a memorial fund in honor of former
Augustana student and film industry musician Steven Boone Webster. The 2025 competition
was adjudicated by Professor Chad Sonka, Iowa State University.

Classical, 1st and 2nd Year

Winner: Chloe Knobloch
Runner up: Thom Elliott
Honorable mentions: Maya Cronfel and Adele Bartlein

Classical, 3rd and 4th Year

Winner: Sidney Underwood
Runner-up: Emily Churak
Honorable mentions: Georgi Feigley and Madeline Hutchinson

Musical Theatre, 1st and 2nd Year

Winner: Maya Cronfel
Runner-up: Johana Neumann
Honorable mentions: Jillian Jones and Chloe Knobloch

Musical Theatre, 3rd and 4th Year

Winner: Brennan Hampton
Runner-up: Jensen Stoneking
Honorable mentions: Sidney Underwood and Emily Churak

Louise Nathanson Scholarship: Joe Mello, James Mihevc, Johnny Drew, James Vargas, Kade Cornn

Ruth E. Hagelin Scholarship: Lauren Dobbels

Physics, Engineering, and Astronomy

Sigma Pi Sigma

Seniors: Luke Dalzell, Abigail Kimber, Andy Nguyen, Kazi Uzayr Razin
Juniors: Tara Armas, Maranda Bargren,  Emma Biskie, Colleen Chiavola, Lili Leatherman

Religion

Floyd and Louise Anderson Award For Excellence In the Study of Religion: Micah Bischoff

Scandinavian Studies

Excellence In Swedish – Beginning Level: Estellah Bognar
Excellence In Swedish – Intermediate/Advanced Level: Joey Loven (Senior)
Outstanding Senior in Scandinavian Studies: Kat-Jean Glusick (Senior)