William & Mary’s 2026 Evening of Excellence Celebrates Student Leaders

Each spring, William & Mary gathers faculty, staff, students and campus partners to recognize the student leaders who make a meaningful difference on campus. Evening of Excellence is a university-wide celebration, hosted by Student Affairs, honoring students for outstanding achievement in leadership, scholarship, service, creativity and commitment. The award ceremony reflects the broad partnership between the university’s academic and co-curricular communities. This year’s ceremony took place Tuesday, April 28, 2026.

Nominations come from faculty, staff, and mentors across the university, reflecting the breadth of the William & Mary community. The awards honor achievement across a wide spectrum from the Ernestine Jackson Award for Cross-Cultural Understanding, recognizing students committed to diversity and inclusion, to the Patriots Dream Veteran Scholarship, awarded to student veterans, to the Clay Clemens Candlelight Award, which celebrates seniors who cultivate a sense of community. Together, these honors speak to the many ways William & Mary students make an impact in and beyond the classroom.

Congratulations to all of the 2026 Evening of Excellence honorees.

2026 Honorees

• American Chemical Society (ACS) Virginia Section Undergraduate Student Award – Katie Agamaite
• American Council of Teachers of Russian (ACTR) Russian Scholar Laureate Award – Sofia Simonian
• Bob and Debbie Noonan Undergraduate Award – Comfort Ohajunwa
• Carroll F.S. Hardy Trailblazer Award – Isha Alaina Tubera
• ChAMPion Award – Elinor Maloney
• Clay Clemens Candlelight Award – Ethan Shoham
• Ernestine Jackson Award for Cross-Cultural Understanding – Maria Haddad
• Excellence in Music Award – Sarah Schulte
• Flourishing Award (Faculty) – Phillip Wagner
• Flourishing Award (Staff) – Don Butler
• Flourishing Award (Student) – Zoe Zollinger
• Footprint Award – Abigail Cochran; Zoie Browder; Grace Bellamy; Charlie Foster; Office of First-Generation Student Engagement
• Fraternity Community Member of the Year Award – Eli Aziere
• Haven Boes/Tucker Volunteer of the Year Award – Erin Collins
• International Student Achievement Award – Ying Li; Glory Munthali; Natalie Kruczkowski; Ima Hosseinzadeh; Abhishek Dhanraj; Kira Mulatu
• Jacquelyn Y. McLendon Prize in Africana Studies – Dativa Eyembe
• Jeanne A. Ito Award – Camille S. Batts; Josie R. Koster
• John Lewis Social Justice Award – Samantha Korateng
• Joseph Jay Award for Service in Support of Our Community’s Values – Sabine Mead Mexia; Nathaniel Appiah
• Knowlton Award – Bennett Low; Alex Duall
• L. Tucker Jones Award – Carmen B. Skinner
• Maria Leonard Senior Book Award – Emily Knabel
• McCormack-Reboussin Scholarship in French & Francophone Studies – Chloe Gang
• Multicultural Leadership Award – Allison Wilson-Robinson; Elizabeth “Liz” Pham
• Nancy Gray Prize – Ava Wladar
• NRHH Director’s Award – Josie Summers
• Omicron Delta Kappa Campus Improvement Award – Maggie Evans
• Omicron Delta Kappa Sophomore Student of the Year Award – Anne Hensley Young
• Outstanding Fraternity Chapter of the Year Award – Alpha Epsilon Pi Fraternity
• Outstanding Service Award (Campus Living) – Liem Nguyen
• Outstanding Sorority Chapter of the Year Award – Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc.
• Parent & Family Council Scholarship – Selah Watkins
• Park Graduate Award (Computer Science) – Ying Li
• Park Undergraduate Award (Computer Science) – Gus Brown
• Peel Hawthorne Award – Emeline Schmittel
• Phil Kearns Computer Systems Award – Rebecca George
• Rex Smith Scholarship – Mona Garimella
• Richard Lee Morton Fellowship – Allison C. Aldrich
• Sorority Community Member of the Year Award – Annabelle Glassman
• Stanley B. Williams Prize for Outstanding Psychology Student – Benetta Wang; Zoe Zollinger
• Wilford Kale Jr. Journalism Award – Charles Vaughan
• William Cross Ferguson & Harry L. Blair Scholarship in Publishing – Veda Kalidindi; Annabel Phoel
• William G. Guy Prize in Chemistry – Tyler Skeen