The UNMC College of Medicine announced the first student winners of its Service-Learning Awards in September.
The awards were given in two categories.
The Service-Learning Community Engagement Awards recognize outstanding civic commitment, community awareness and personal development. Awardees will demonstrate incorporation of their experiences into their personal goals, perspectives, and values.
The Service-Learning Leadership Awards are for students who exhibit active leadership in service learning with clear vision, innovation, and creativity. Awardees will demonstrate strong initiative with a clear impact, motivate others, and exhibit a high standard of integrity.
“We wanted to recognize the hard work that our students do outside of the classroom, both to interact with community groups and just better the communities that they are a part of,” said Geoffrey Talmon, MD, associate dean for medical education at the college.
“Many students not only accrue a lot of community service hours, but they are also leading – both within the UNMC-sponsored groups, but also outside of that, in their communities or churches. That leadership, that service mentality, is critical for physicians, and we wanted to be able to recognize that.”
Abbey Fingeret, MD, led the effort to create the inaugural awards, which will now be given annually, Dr. Talmon said.
The inaugural awardees were:
Service-Learning Community Engagement Award
- Jacob Moore
- Kaitlyn Schultis
- Lukas Hall
- Jessica Glas
- Lauren Wegner
Service-Learning Leadership Award
- Benjamin Huerter
- Cassie Liu
- Safwan Elkhatib
- Shea Jeffres
- Kelsey Green