Traditional ceremony honors student achievement

Every year around this same time, the tradition of honoring those students with high academic achievements takes place.
The Honors Convocation is held to recognize hard-working students, as well as professors for their achievements during the previous year. Sr. Lois Sculco, vice president for administration and student life, explained that the Honors Convocation is a very old tradition.


By Kristy Schweikarth,
Contributor
Every year around this same time, the tradition of honoring those students with high academic achievements takes place.
The Honors Convocation is held to recognize hard-working students, as well as professors for their achievements during the previous year. Sr. Lois Sculco, vice president for administration and student life, explained that the Honors Convocation is a very old tradition.
It is also a time when freshmen are welcomed to Seton Hill University (SHU) by the president and vice president, as well as faculty members, each calling them by their first name. This tradition will come full circle upon graduation, after the baccalaureate ceremony where students will be wished well and share goodbyes with the same people who welcomed them to SHU.
During this year’s Honors Convocation, held on September 13, 2006, many students were honored with awards and scholarships.
Award recipient, Mary Kate Bashline, a junior, said, �It was really nice, nice that Seton Hill would recognize students� effort. It was exciting!�
Bashline won one of the Sullivan awards for high academics in her class.
Cayla Glover, a junior, was also an award recipient for the Sullivan Award, as well as an award for her high achievements in psychology.
�It was exciting! I definitely had no idea that I was going to get these awards,� said Glover.
The Honors Convocation not only honors students, it also honors a professor for his or her high achievements in the previous year.
Steven Bassett, a professor of biology, was awarded the 2006 Professor of the Year Award. He gave a speech informing the audience about how �teachable� someone can be.
After Bassett’s speech, freshmen students were ushered to the parlors for a traditional greeting by JoAnne Boyle, president of SHU, Mary Ann Gawelek, vice president for academic affairs and dean of the faculty, as well as many other faculty members.
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