Abington honors student scholars and leaders

The Penn State Abington community celebrated the diverse talents and successes of its students at the annual Awards and Leadership Dinner last week. Families and friends applauded the scholars and the student leaders who succeeded academically and in areas such as public service and campus diversity.

The winner of the most prestigious honor of the evening, the Eric A. and Josephine Walker Award, is always a closely guarded secret until the end of the evening. Corporate communication major Fallyn Maleski was selected as the 2014 Walker winner for exhibiting outstanding character, scholarship, leadership and citizenship.

“Fallyn is an inspiring and action-oriented student leader who learns from her challenges. Her integrity and unwavering work ethic bring her to campus hours before and after class to meet with students, faculty and staff,” Gale Siegel, Abington senior director of Student Affairs, told the audience. "She is well prepared and does her research to ensure she is well versed in the issues and concerns of the constituents she meets.”

The Walker award is presented to students at locations other than University Park and was established by the former Penn State president and his wife.

The complete list of the 2014 Awards and Leadership winners:
President’s Awards
Presented to first- and second-year students who achieved 4.0 cumulative averages and juniors and seniors in the upper 0.5 percent of their class.
Freshman Award: Rachel Bohl, Meizi Chen, Larissa Cheristin, Irene Ho, Zohab Javed, John McGlynn, Darshan Patel, Sasha Thomas, Renata Zavyalova, Zhiyuan Zhao, Brianna Zigler
Sparks Award (sophomores): Tiange Chen, Spencer Lin
Evan Pugh Scholar Award (juniors and seniors): Amy Datiz Estevez, Meredith McLaren

Abington Honors Program Awards: David Agia, Eman Alkurdi, Matthew Ford, Melanie Greenwood, Desirae Holmes, Magni Hussain, Alexander Kane, Claire Kutzler, Spencer Lin, Matthew McGurk, Sarah Panea, Carly Powell, Priya Samuel

Division of Arts and Humanities
The Bertha Lear Art Exhibition Awards: Max Berrios, Erica Lampe, Fristo Marc, Kate Roche, Sue Stanton
Beverley Wright McHugh Award for English: Sheila Jones
Michael T. Plam Memorial Prize for History: Christopher Franklin

Division of Social Sciences
Susquehanna Bank Business Award: Patricia Petras
Samuel J. DiRoberto Award: Sophavandy Iv
Samuel J. DiRoberto Memorial Scholarship in Accounting: Abdullah Bas, Ekaterina Kogai, Debrhea Vaiana-Cavanagh
Susan Lynne Keiser Scholarship: Konstantinos Mavrakis
Louis C. Riggs Jr. Scholarship: Brian Sargrad
Wesley A. Olsen Memorial Scholar Athlete Award: Jacqualyn Horbury, Alex Kane
Wesley A. Olsen Memorial Scholarship: Raymond Horn, Spencer Lin, Priscilla Wong
Outstanding Administration of Justice Student: Mariah Sweeney
Dr. Jeanne Smith Psychological and Social Sciences Award: Janet Stock

Division of Science and Engineering Awards
Anglescy-Todd Award for an Outstanding Engineering Student: Matthew Smith
Ayoub Mathematics Achievement Award: Rittu Raju
Dr. Robert A. Bernoff Award for Women in Science and Engineering: Vanessa Lopez
Gerald P. Kessler Scholarship: Dennis Singmaster
Dr. Harvey S. and June T. Koch Scholarship: Wing Yan Lee
Sanford F. Nicol Award for Engineering: Gregory Edelman, Michael Fendler
Outstanding Freshman Chemistry Student Award: John McGlynn
David B. Peterson Jr. Memorial Award: Chasidy McLaurin
Lillian Rankin Science Award: Danilo Lamounier
Eleanor Wilson Award for Physics: Robert Thome

Leadership Recognition Awards
Campus Exemplary Leader Award: Carter Bowman, Ryan Douglas, Alex Kane, Arriana Martin, Benjamin McIntyre, Stacy Wanerman
Student Diversity Award: Joanell Taveras
Eric A. and Josephine Walker Award: Fallyn Maleski