On May 6th, the Communication Studies Department held the Communication Studies Excellence Awards to celebrate the achievements and merit of select students in the department.
Attendance was limited to professors, their selected students, and some family members of the students. The attendees socialized and enjoyed the catered food before the proper ceremony started.
During the ceremony, professors came on stage to speak about the lives, abilities, and accomplishments of their chosen students before presenting them with certificates.
Communications professor Laura Mayuga, as well as the organizer for the entire event, created it with the goal of recognizing the excellence of students who otherwise might not have gotten the appreciation they deserve.
“This event allows us to honor our students. They might not be the perfect students but they’re achieving anyway and we should honor that,” said Mayuga.
Mayuga believed that the students and professors were what the event was really about.
Professors brought in students who they felt best represented their path as a teacher.
Ruthie Heely, the chosen student of Mayuga, expressed how much she had been helped by Professor Mayuga both as a student and as a confidant.
“Professor Laura Mayuga and I have a very close relationship where we can share with each other… I am terrified of speaking and she helped me with that.”
The event celebrates not just the accomplishments of the students, but also the journey they’ve taken to get there, the help they’ve received from their professors and the subject as a whole.
A secondary reason for the event is to help promote the benefits of the department.
Communication is an often-overlooked area of study that can help many students who struggle with speaking both publicly and critically. Communications professor Kristina Dowlatshahi described the benefits that she saw in the subject.
“Everybody needs to be able to communicate effectively, so being able to hone those skills for real-world experience is the point of communication studies,” said Dowlatshahi
Eight students were ultimately selected to receive certificates, each receiving words of pride from their professors.
