Honors Students of the Year
Awarded to Honors student who best excels as a leader displaying creativity, innovation, and long-term effectiveness in advancing the mission of the Reaud Honors College and °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ
2024-2025
Rima Shaaban (Class of 2025) excelled as a leader by displaying creativity, innovation, and long-term effectiveness in advancing the mission of the Reaud Honors College and °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ. She represented the student body as SEC Vice President of Internal Affairs; SGA Associate Justice; SGA Senior Class Senator; Cardinal Orientation Team Leader; and LU Ambassador.
Within the Reaud Honors College, Rima served as Honors Student Association President and Vice President. As a peer mentor, she also provided guidance and advice to fellow Honors Cardinals. As a McMaster international scholar, she took a Human Resources course while studying abroad in Greece.
Rima was also an active leader within her Chemistry Pre-Dental major, serving as President and Vice President of LU's Pre-Dental Society. Her experience as an undergraduate researcher encouraged her to uplift fellow student researchers as Treasurer for LURA.
Awarded to Honors student who demonstrates exemplary scholastic work in both academics and research within any field
2024-2025
Ryan Shugart (Class of 2025) produced exemplary scholastic work in both academics and research within his field. As a David J. Beck Scholar, Ryan conducted research as a Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGA) engineer with Emerson Automation Solutions under the leadership of Charles Eastberg and his team in the greater Austin area. He also furthered his academic credentials by completing an FPGA course from the University of Colorado-Boulder.
As part of his research as a Beck Fellow, Ryan evaluated key components between industry and coursework. He is awaiting publication confirmation on his research from the American Society for Engineering Education.
Ryan is also a McNair Scholar. He conducted his McNair research on "Optimizing the Energy Efficiency of a Standard Household Refrigerator," using a TEG, during which he implemented a temperature gradient system that captured 0.125% of previously wasted thermal energy by utilizing waste heat recovery on one side and dissipating excess heat on the other. He also evaluated data through assessments, experiments, and analysis to document noteworthy discoveries.
Awarded to Honors student who demonstrates an ability to build community between the Reaud Honors College and at least one partner from within the °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ community or the greater Southeast Texas area
2024-2025
Brenna Swanton (Class of 2025, at left) and Gladys Oliva Guillen (Class of 2025, at right)
Both Gladys and Brenna belong to our outstanding JoAnne Gay Dishman School of Nursing and have almost identical resumes.
Their dedication to volunteerism is an outstanding testament to the students in our nursing program. Gladys and Brenna have hundreds of hours of preceptorship, volunteerism, and critical care in areas such as: community health, pediatrics, leadership and management, and behavioral health. They donated considerable time to help their profession at CHRISTUS St. Elizabeth Hospital and Baptist Hospitals of Southeast Texas.
Scholastically, they both earned healthcare certifications that include Basic Life Support and Vision Screening. They also belong to professional organizations, including the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nurses.
Beyond campus, Gladys and Brenna applied their compassionate skills and boundless energy to benefit community partners, including the Southeast Texas Food Bank and the Reaud Foundation’s Bicycles and Bibles.
Awarded to Honors student who best excels as a leader displaying creativity, innovation, and long-term effectiveness in advancing the mission of the Reaud Honors College and °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ
2023-2024 - INAUGURAL YEAR
Kelvin Elgar (Class of 2024) excelled as a leader by displaying creativity, innovation, and long-term effectiveness in advancing the mission of the Reaud Honors College and °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ. He represented the student body as SGA Senior Class Senator, SEC Vice President of Internal Affairs, Cardinal Orientation Team Leader, and LU Ambassador.
Within the College of Engineering, Kelvin served as an Engineering Ambassador, Founding President of Cardinal Energy Club, President and Regional Coordinator of the Society of Asian Scientists and Engineers, and as a lab assistant for the Center for Advances in Water and Air Quality.
Additionally, Kelvin’s leadership spanned into the community through his work as an honorary board member for Stable Spirits, an equine therapy center, through our college’s Stepping Up Civic Leadership Institute. He was also the inaugural Vice President of Students Consulting for Nonprofits. His leadership contributions earned him the Ann Shaw Leadership Award in his junior year.
Finally, his leadership experiences extended to the entirety of the TSUS System. As the 2023-2024 TSUS Student Regent, appointed by the Governor of Texas, Kelvin represented 90,000 students in the TSUS system to provide a student perspective for decisions made by the Board of Regents and the Chancellor.
Awarded to Honors student who demonstrates exemplary scholastic work in both academics and research within any field
2023-2024 - INAUGURAL YEAR
Jennyfer Zarate (Class of 2024) produced exemplary scholastic work in both academics and research within her field. As a McNair Scholar, Jennyfer conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis of Gut Microbiota and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis under mentor Dr. Ashwini Kucknoor. Throughout the course of researching this autoimmune disease, Jennyfer learned techniques in cloning, protein expression, electrophoresis, PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) and RT-PCR (Reverse Transcription PCR), Chromatography, and Spectrography.
After presenting her McNair oral defense at Baylor University and sharing her research at Honors Scholars Day, Jennyfer traveled to San Juan, Puerto Rico, to present her research at the SACNAS NDiSTEM Conference, the largest multidisciplinary and multicultural STEM diversity conference in the country.
Awarded to Honors student who demonstrates an ability to build community between the Reaud Honors College and at least one partner from within the °ÅÀÖÊÓƵ community or the greater Southeast Texas area
2023-2024 - INAUGURAL YEAR
Annabelle Broussard (Class of 2024) demonstrated her excellence in selflessly building community, most notably by establishing mobile health clinics in Lima, Peru, as the Public Relations Chair for Medlife, mentoring high school students as an RHC Home for the Holidays Ambassador, and serving as Founding President of the Students Consulting for Nonprofit Organizations.
Her civic leadership journey began with HSA, and her admirable dedication and leadership resulted in AmeriCorps and the White House nationally recognizing our Honors Student Association with the “President’s Volunteer Service Award.”