News
5 VMA students received honors at this year's Student Awards Convocation
April 12, 2018
Each year faculty and staff have the opportunity to identify outstanding students to receive an achievement award at the Student Awards Convocation Ceremony. The event, held at the L.V. Eberhard Center, brings together students, faculty, deans, and parents in recognition of the highest accomplished students in the university.
In an evening that started with a reception, followed by a keynote presentation by Mathematics professor Matthew Boelkins and permeated by music numbers performed by the GVSU Brass Quintet, four Visual and Media Arts majors received the Excellence-in-a-Discipline Award and one received the Thomas M Seykora Award for Outstanding Contribution.
The Excellence-in-a-Discipline Award honors one student from each undergraduate and graduate discipline. Faculty from each department select the recipient based upon an earned minimum number of credit hours at an exceptional grade point average. This year's recipients from Visual and Media Arts are Andrea Burns, Danielle Grow, Manuel Diaz, and Kendra Smith.
Burns received the Excellence in a Discipline award for Art Education. She grew up in the small town of Hopkins, Michigan on a campground that her parents owned. During the first 20 years of her life, Andrea was often seen in the woods exploring and getting dirty. She discovered a love for nature that cultivated abundant energy and creativity. That passion led Andrea to create art that fosters connections to the natural world, which still remains the focus of her current body of work. After graduation, Andrea hopes to move out of state and find a secondary teaching placement. Eventually, she dreams of opening a ceramics studio where she would teach wheel throwing and hand-building classes to the public.
This year's recipient in the Film and Video Production major is Danielle Grow. Danielle grew up in Holt, Michigan, out in the countryside. When she came to Grand Valley her sights were set on becoming an Alternative Energy Engineer. "I was really good at calculus so engineering just sort of fit." At the same time, she always had a love for the arts but had not discovered a way to become one. It was during her first film class at GVSU (taken for fun) that she discovered a love for film and film theories. Grow's big dream is to move to France and pursue a career in cinematography. She has already started shooting her own short films in preparation. Outside of the major, Danielle is a roller derby athlete with Grand Raggidy Roller Derby and is a proud mother of two cats.
The award recipient in the Photography major is Manuel Diaz. Manuel was born in Grand Rapids but grew up both in Mexico and Grand Rapids. Diaz says that some of the highlights of his GVSU experience are the people he has met, from friends to professors and everything that he has learned. Diaz says he is still exploring what his photography is about, but is very much interested in the idea of thought and memory. After graduation, Manuel wants to travel and continue expanding his photography career.
Kendra Smith received the Excellence-in-a-Discipline Award in Studio Art. Kendra is a West Michigan native, from Marne, Michigan. She is pursuing a career in graphic design after graduation. Kendra hopes to work for a design studio in the region and would eventually like to start her own studio. She enjoys playing with her dogs, boating, camping, hand lettering, swing dancing, and photography. Side note: Kendra also received the VMA Student Exhibition Purchase Award for her work titled "End the World Water Crisis Poster Series". The series will be in GVSU's permanent art collection and displayed in the Raleigh J. Finkelstein Hall, scheduled to open Fall 2018.
A committee of students and staff members from the Student Services Division selects the winners of the Thomas M. Seykora Award for Outstanding Contribution. This honor recognizes a number of seniors who, through their involvement, have made significant and outstanding contributions to the campus community at GVSU. Film and Video Production major Sara Juarez received the award, along with other 7 GVSU students.
Sara Liz Juarez received the Seykora Award for Outstanding Contribution to the GVSU community. She is a first-generation college student from Kentwood, Michigan, but her family is originally from Guanajuato, Mexico. Her dream is to create powerful documentaries that focus on social causes and use film to highlight issues of injustice and to share the stories of those who are silenced. She has done work about refugees, immigrants, and sexual assault awareness, which have been featured at various showcases. Aside from film, Sara enjoys photography, drawing, writing, singing, playing the piano, guitar, and ukulele, as well as organizing for social causes. She also actively volunteers around the community and participates in GV's Latino Student Union, Laker Familia, Queer and Trans People of Color, and other organizations around the community.
Congratulations to this year's winners and best wishes on their future endeavors!