Michael Clark, Madeline Worcester, and Melan White Recognized at AU's Academic Honors Convocation.

On Sunday, April 18, Ashland University held its annual Honors Convocation to recognize outstanding students and faculty. Each year, the department's faculty vote to honor an outstanding sophomore, junior, and senior. The students chosen for this high honor are subsequently recognized at the University-wide Convocation. This year's recipients were as follows:

Outstanding Sophomore: Michael Clark

Outstanding Junior: Madeline Worcester

Outstanding Senior: Melan White

Michael Clark

I am in the Honors program and an Ashbrook scholar. My two majors are English and philosophy, and while these topics may seem mutually exclusive to some people, I believe that they are intimately related. My interest in studying literature stems from the belief that great literary works hold philosophical import, particularly that which speaks to what it means to be human. I am not involved in much on campus outside of my studies, but to these I am committed because they speak to the greater issues of life which are of the most importance to me. The meaning of any success that I have achieved while at Ashland, I believe, reflects the depth of my desire to pursue these greater philosophical questions and, hopefully, represents the successful progress that I have made towards this goal. I am grateful for the faculty that have supported me thus far in this pursuit, and I hope to only discover more with their help in the coming years.

Madeline Worcester

An Integrated Language Arts major, I am the secretary of Astronomy Club and the co-president of Sigma Tau Delta. I am also a member of Anime Club, Alpha Lambda Delta, Ashland University Theatre, and the Honors Program, among other things. I work as the assistant editor for the Honors newsletter, The Bugle; I'm a communication coach for the Ashland Multiliteracy Center; and I've recently been hired for my second summer as an MFA intern! In my limited free time, I love to write, read, draw, play Dungeons & Dragons, and listen to music.

Melan White

I am a Creative Writing major with a minor in English. As far as campus involvement goes, I am the President of Black Student Alliance, I sit on the board for AU IDEAL which focuses on Diversity and Inclusion within athletics, I am a women's lacrosse player, I serve on a general ODI (Office of Diversity and Inclusion) council and I am an English Dept. mentor. Outside of all of that, I like to read, write, and go outdoors.

The department congratulates these students for their exceptional academic performance, including not only their graded work but also their consistent contributions in their classes and in the overall life of the department.