The University of New Mexico

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Contact: Karen Wentworth (505) 277-5627
kwent2@unm.edu

March 20, 2006

UNM Selects Outstanding Seniors
Eight honored for academic achievement and campus contribution

Eight graduating seniors from the University of New Mexico , recognized for their excellence in academics and campus involvement, have been selected as the 2006 Clauve Outstanding Seniors.

The Clauve winners will be formally honored at the UNM Recognition Reception, an annual event to recognize outstanding students at UNM, on April 20, 2006. The award is named in honor of Lena Clauve a former dean of women students at UNM. Winners will receive a recognition placque.

Chelsea E. Armstrong

Chelsea E. Armstrong is majoring in Secondary Education with an emphasis in Language Arts. During her time at UNM she has served as the ASUNM Community Experience Director, working on fundraising for UNM Hurricane Katrina transfer students, developing volunteer programs with Ronald McDonald House and Joy Junction, and bringing a Breast Cancer Awareness Day to UNM. She has also been a resident advisor, a new student orientation leader, a member of the Student Abroad Association and worked as a reporter/photographer on the Daily Lobo. She spent a semester on international exchange at the University of Hull in England . Armstrong is a student teacher at Jefferson Middles School , an after-school homework club tutor and a part-time percussion player in a hip/hop jazz band.

Marcus A. Bellamy

Marcus A. Bellamy is a mechanical engineering major and an active member of the Hispanic Engineering Student Organization and the National Society of Black Engineers where he is serving as the region six finance chair. He has also served as the recruiting services chair

for the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and as corresponding secretary of Tau Beta Pi, the engineering honor society. Bellamy is a member of the UNM Trailblazers and serves as student senator in the Associated Students of the University of New Mexico . He has worked as a volunteer regional science fair judge in the junior engineering category and is a math/science tutor for students 6-17 in the Pre-College Initiative.

Jessica Castro

Jessica Castro is a psychology/Spanish major. She has served as president of the Hispanic Honor Society, vice-president and chair of community service projects for the society and secretary of the Honors Student Advisory Council. Castro is a member of the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, the Golden Key International Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, Psi Chi National Honor Society in psychology, the Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, Phi Beta Kappa and Phi Kappa Phi. She has worked as an undergraduate teaching assistant for introductory psychology, and has received the Jenny Marie Ames Memorial Scholarship, and the Harrison Schmitt Scholarship. Castro has also participated in a variety of charitable activities including weekly tutoring for 3-4 year olds at the Martineztown House of Neighborly Service Day Care and After School Programs.

Dahlia Dorman

Dahlia Dorman is a political science/Spanish major. She has been a senator for ASUNM, serving on the finance committee, and is a member of Pi Beta Phi sorority where she has held several positions, and has participated in the Emerging Leaders Program. She has also served as a Rho Gamma for the Panhellenic Council. She is a member of Phi Alpha Delta Pre-Law Fraternity, Pi Sigma Alpha National Political Science Honor Society and the Black Student Union. On campus she has worked as a student volunteer for Fall Frenzy, the Class Crawl, and Spring Storm. Her research on violence against women was award with a Symposium Prize at the 2005 UNM Research and Creativity Symposium. She is a competitive figure skater and has interned on the Richard Romero 2004 Congressional Campaign. She has also served as a volunteer tutor for Learning Disabled Students, and will be attending the UNM School of Law in fall 2006.

Jesse French

Jesse Edward French is an economics and political science major, and recipient of the prestigious Truman Scholarship, the UNM Presidential Scholarship and the Mercer Scholarship, given to UNM's most promising communicator. He has been a National Student Exchange student, spending a year at the University of Massachusetts , Amherst . He has coauthored a parliamentary debate reference book and helped revitalize the UNM Debate Team, which created the UNM Howl, the state's largest high school debate tournament. French is a member of the College Democrats, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and the National Forensic League, and has judged and coached high school debate students. He has worked as a volunteer for the USDA National Resources Conservation Service, and the New Mexico Center on Law and Poverty.

Allison Hudson

Allison Hudson is a Spanish major with a Political Science minor. She founded the UNM chapter of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars, serving as its first president, and is currently the president of the National Leadership Council of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She also created the implemented the Chapter Scholarships Program now in use by dozens of NSCS chapters throughout the nation. She is a member of the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, the Honors Student Advisory Council, the Golden Key International Honor Society, Phi Eta Sigma and Phi Kappa Phi. She interned in the UNM Office of the President, and served as chair of Education and Awareness for the UNM chapter of Habitat for Humanity, and a team leader for Spring Storm. She also created and co-taught a class for the University Honors Program Senior Teaching Experience, “Cry for Me Argentina”. The class examined topics such as populism and the evolution of female power in the 1940s-1950s America. Hudson is a mentor with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Central New Mexico and the secretary of the Home Owner's Association at The Lofts and Albuquerque High.

Maya Oliver

Maya L. Oliver is a Journalism and Mass Communications (Public Relations) and Spanish major. She is the director of A+ Public Relations, a UNM student-run public relations firm. As director she rebuilt an organization that now works with Ronald McDonald House Charities, United Blood Services and Habitat for Humanity into a firm that now has more than 40 members. Oliver is also assistant editor of Promotions, a monthly newsletter for the Public Relations Student Society of America, the public relations chair of the Mortar Board Senior Honor Society, public relations officer of the Golden Key International Honor Society, a former president of Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society and a member of the National Society of Collegiate Scholars. She works part time at the University Communication and Marketing Department writing press releases and contributing to the print version of UNM Today, and assisting visitors to the campus.

David Steele

David Steele is an Electrical Engineering major who also works half-time at Sandia National Laboratories as a student intern in the areas of circuit design, bread-boarding, soldering, testing and LabVIEW programming. He is President of the Student Union Building Board, and has served as vice president of finance for Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity, and scholarship chairman and vice president for the Interfraternity Council. In addition, he is a member of the UNM Trailblazers, of the UNM Student Fee Review Board, Tau Beta Pi Engineering Honor Society, Eta Kappa Nu Electrical Engineering Honor Society, the National Society of Collegiate Scholars and Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society. He has served as a student senator on the Senate Finance Committee and Outreach and Appointments Committee, as a member of the ASUMN Lobby Committee. Steele has received the UNM Presidential Scholarship, the Lena Clauve Outstanding Senior Scholarship and the MOAA Scholarship and Grant.

 


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