Each April at the Mathematics Department student award banquet we recognize exemplary students.   In this article we share the students being honored with scholarships and awards and their achievements.

Scholarships

The generous contributions of alumni and many past and present mathematics faculty has established the Mathematics Endowment Fund to provide funds to support annual Mathematics Department Scholarships for select mathematics majors.

The selection criteria include a personal essay, grade point average, letters of recommendation, and extra-curricular mathematical engagement.  The following outstanding students are receiving this scholarship for the 2025-26 academic year:

Grace Buchmiller

Troy Conlay

Kevin Cellucci

Connor Chambers

Jordan Edwards

Sydney Lipton

Congratulations to each of these deserving mathematics majors!

VanderJagt Mathematics and Athletics Scholarship

Prof. Don VanderJagt served the mathematics department and Grand Valley State University for more than 40 years.  Before his retirement, Don and his wife, Barb, endowed the VanderJagt Scholarship to support students working toward a degree in mathematics.  A list of past recipients is kept on a plaque outside the math department office.

This year the Department is pleased to honor Ashleigh Rothe and Marco Sanson with the VanderJagt Scholarship.

Other Awards

The Outstanding Sophomore Award recognizes the academic achievements of students at the beginning of their academic careers.  The purpose of the award is to encourage continued success in the study of mathematics.  Students may only win this award by being nominated by one or more faculty.

The 2025 Outstanding Sophomores are Micah Dykhuis, Grady Miller, and Caden Sauve.

The GVSU Mathematics Community Service Award is designed to honor a mathematics major at GVSU who exhibits excellence in mathematics and a strong record of community service related to mathematics, mathematics education, or education. The winner of this award receives a certificate and a book and is recognized by having their name engraved on a plaque in the Mathematics Department. The 2025 winner of the Community Service Award is Kennedy Graham.

Department Senior Awards honor graduating students for their accumulated excellence in the mathematics major and their overall contributions to the department.  These students have made a positive difference in the life of the mathematics department as they have demonstrated exemplary work in their courses and often have shown leadership and participation in extracurricular mathematical activities. The winners of department senior awards for 2025 are:

Sarah Brumels 

Kennedy Graham 

Alicia Hall     

Keri Herman

Rowan Kennedy

Kyle McKee 

Julia Osmun

Jennie Pekel

Mallory Price

Mandy Renner

Nick Simmons

Alex Robles-Vazquez

Sarah Zaske  

Each year, every department in the university selects a single graduating student for its Excellence-in-the-Discipline Award.  For 2025, Alaina Hogan is the recipient of this honor, and you can read more about her in this article.

Congratulations to all of these outstanding students.  We wish them the very best in all of their future endeavors.