IVCC recognizes students’ academic achievement

Illinois Valley Community College recognized nearly 200 students for academic achievement during its recent annual Student Academic Awards ceremony. The event was attended by students, parents, faculty, and administrators.

Eleven students were named Thomas J. McCormack Scholars, including Isabella Argubright; Ayden Barajas; Nathaniel Hansen; Nolan Hunter; Josephina Leone; Katlynn Monaghan; Tyson Phillips; Mariana Rodriguez-Martinez; Kevin Rynke; Lilliana Samolitis, and Lucas Tousignant.

To be named a McCormack Scholar, a student must earn a semester GPA of 3.75 or higher while carrying 14 or more semester hours of college-level coursework in each of the first three semesters of enrollment.

The winners of several annual campuswide essay contests were also recognized during the event, including McKinzie Tarbox, winner of the Paul Simon Essay Contest, Cooper Lamps, winner of the Gandhi/King Peace Essay, and David Escobedo, winner of the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Essay, and Tarbox and Escobedo read their essays.

The Richard Publow Memorial Writing Award winners were Andrew Paden, Jaszmin Farley, Zoey Byers and Chance Estes. The Publow rewards exceptional essays written each year in English Composition courses.

Earning three-semester honors were: Isabella Argubright; Ayden Barajas; Hope Baratta; Allyson Bohms; Gavin Bratkovich; Aiden Cheek; Brenden Christensen; Kaiden Connor; Luke Credi; Conlan Cwikla; Sarah Daugherty; Austin Davy; Aidan DeGroot; Bernadette Dittmer; Gabrielle Doyle; Gino Fascetta; Bhawna; Bria Frey; Coral Garcia; Natalie Glynn; Kailey Goetsch; Nathaniel Hansen; Mary Heermann; Charles Heiting; Nolan Hunter; Mina James; Lily Jeppson; Sarah Johnson; Cloee Johnston; Piper Kammer; Lauren Kolczaski; Ava Lambert; Josephina Leone; Litzy Lopez; Madelyn Mahnesmith; Jacob Maier; Torren Martin; Anthony Melendez; Jo Mindeman; Katlynn Monaghan; Meghann Ostler; Stacy Pavnica; Lizbeth Paz; Price Peterlin; Tyson Phillips; Eleanor Radtke; Vance Redlich; Jack Reppin; Mariana Rodriguez-Martinez; Kevin Rynke; Lilliana Samolitis; Brianna Sanchez; Danica Scoma; Alysa Sharp; Jadah Shipley; Aubrey Siebert; Adisyn Siekierka; Alan Sifuentes; Shae Simons; Madelyn Smudzinski; Malachi Snyder; Thomas Staton; Noah Steiner; Danielle-Crystal Sterner; Jakob Stumm; Clare Suarez; Robert Templeton; Ty Terzick; Lucas Tousignant; Lauren Trost; Nolan VanDuzer; Ariana Villalobos; Hailey VonPerbandt; Megan Wasilewski; Ian Watkins; Aieden Wenskunas; Brandon Wilson; Sidney Wilson, and Maya Zeman.

Earning academic honors for two consecutive semesters were: Danielle Adams; Tayli Allen; Chloe Andersen; Alex Ankiewicz; Blayze Arndt; Esmeralda Avila; Charlotte Badger; Jace Baird; Kamdyn Becket; Lilliana Bernabei; Christopher Beyer; Kyle Bliss; Piper Brodbeck; Brandon Campbell; Devyn Castelli; Itzel Cervantes; Liam Clarkson; Stephanie Clift; Brooke Copeland; Morgan Day; Dawson Dresbach; Claire Durdan; Kaylee Dzurisin; Makenzie Eichelkraut; Michael Ellis; Natalie Eltrevoog; Claudia Englehaupt; Kambri Fisher; Luke Flanagan; Tracy Foreman; Sage Gallik; Sydney Ganskop; Diego Garcia; Erik Garcia; James Gassen; Todd Gay; Gabriel Glass; Amanda Golden; Miriam Gonzalez; Zulema Gonzalez; Dylan Gosdin; Robert Gray; Makenzie Hanson; Ava Hatton; Tiffany Hegland; Bryan Herrera; Morgan Hoscheid; Julia Johnson; Adam Kasperski; Katelyn Kiska; Anna Larios; Hailey Larsen; MacKenzie Law; Madison Longbein; Amy Luaisa; Mekenzie Martin; Evelin Martinez; Karen Martinez; Matthew Masters; Evey Meyer; Packston Miller; Agustin Mojica; Mia Moncrief; Ashli Moore; Kylee Moore; Rocco Morsovillo; Zoe Murphy; Emily Myre; Keely Nelson; Rutger Noordegraaf; Jose Ochoa; Ava Offermann; Olivia Orteza; Andrew Paden; Ethan Palaschak; Talia Peck; Kristina Penaverde; Michael Peters; Ryan Peterson; Palmer Phillis; Chelsea Piper; Logan Potthoff; Chelsea Ptak; Kiley Rhodes; Angela Ritter; Rafael Romero; Mason Ross; Ayipey Salinas; Brenton Sampson; Marissa Sanchez; Michael Scheib; Ryan Seibert; Ryan Slingsby; Tristin Solan; Ryan Stevenson; Nelson Stolp; Elliott Struck; McKinzie Tarbox; Thi Tran; Olivia Trolinger; Jamie Valadez-Castaneda; Nick Venjakob; Gwyneth Verona; Mary Verucchi; Haley Waddell; Hannah Waddell; Mitchel Wall; Ethan Waters; Av Weidert; Maya Wiggins; Olivia Wyzgowski; Chance Ybarra; Zachary Yborra; Carson Zellers, and Cassandra Zimmerman.

Vice President for Student Services Mark Grzybowski emceed the event while President Dr. Tracy Morris and Vice President for Academic Affair Dr. Vicki Trier presented awards and greeted honorees. Keynote speaker was Dr. Jon Hubbell, IVCC Criminal Justice Coordinator and winner of the 2026 Stephen Charry Award for outstanding faculty.