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2016 Stryker Awards Banquet recognizes outstanding student leaders for contributions to Illinois Tech

Anoopa Sundararaj an
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

In 1972, Clinton El Stryker set up an
endowment and contributed additional funds
to encourage student involvement and increase
opportunities for leadership development at
Illinois Techl Stryker was a distinguished alum
and professor at Illinois Techl He graduated
from the university, then known as the
Armour Institute of Technology, with a degree
in electrical engineering in 1917‘ He served
three terms on the Board of Trustees and was
a recipient of the prestigious Alumni Medal
in 1968‘ For the past 41 years, the Clinton El
Stryker awards have been awarded to students
who have made significant contributions to
student life at Illinois Tech The 2016 awards
banquet was held on Tuesday, April 19, in the
Hermann Hall Ballroom

Dean of Student Affairs, Katherine
Stetz, began the awards ceremony with brief
remarks and then called Ryan Miller, Assistant

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Students showcase solutions from

Vice Provost for Campus Life, on stage to
present the award for the Outstanding Student
Advisor Iohn Erickson, Senior Lecturer in
the applied mathematics department, and
advisor to the Math Club was the recipient
of the award this year Although Erickson
was not present to receive his award, Miller
shared an anecdote from a recent interaction
with Erickson highlighting his dedication and
support for the organization Miller added
that Erickson went out of his way to attend the
student organization roundeups just so that he
could be aware of the information and help his
students in their time of need

The award for Outstanding
Graduate Teaching Assistant of the Year
was presented by Provost Frances Bronet to
Karthik Selvaraj, a student in the Master’s
program for Information and Technology
Management Before handing out the award,
Bronet read aloud some reviews from students
who had been taught by Selvarajl In addition
to standard positive reviews, students said that

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he “helps [them] know what the mistake is"
before helping them solve it, an important step
in the process that is sometimes overlooked by
others

Alex Carlson, Director of Campus
Life came up to the stage next to present the
award to the Outstanding Student Employee
of the Year, Melanie Standish Standish has
worked for the Office of Campus Life for a
year now and has been working with student
reservations for a portion of that time Carlson
recalled a day when Standish came in to her
office to say that someone she had never met
before recognized her name and asked if she
was “THE Melanie Standish, from student
reservations," what she referred to as the day
she “became famous?’ Carlson added that
Standish was the kind of employee who not
only looked out for herself and did her best,
but also helped other student workers out and
tried to ensure that everything was running
smoothly overalll

Following this, the award for

semester-long projects
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Outstanding First Year Involvement was
presented by Patrick Fina, Campus Life
Coordinator, to Adrian Duenasl Fina
described Duenas as “fun" and possessing “a
dynamic energy" When they first met, Fina
found it hard to believe that Duenas was only
a freshman, given his extensive involvement
in student organizations and knowledge of
campus life

The award for Outstanding Student
Organization, according to the Office of
Student Affairs, “recognizes an organization
for its success and support of student
development, leadership, and campus/
community involvement? ' This year, the award
was presented to UNICEF at Illinois Techl
Katie Stango, Campus Life Coordinator, said
that the group “has done an outstanding job
sustaining leadership within their student
community"

Continued on Page 2

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Photos Courtesy ofGerald Doyle (top and middle), Gabriel Connors (bottom left), Meriern Sakrouhi (bottom right)