Six Lincoln Trail College Students Honored

Six Lincoln Trail College students were honored with the College’s most prestigious student awards on April 14. Alexis Davis was awarded the Joseph C. Piland Excellence in Scholarship Award, Guadalupe Amicone, Tomas Bascon, and Juan Solivellas were awarded the J. Rod Harmon Excellence in Service Award, and Leticia Guimaraes and Clint Wickliffe were awarded the Bev L. Turkal Excellence in Leadership Award.
 
The Joseph C. Piland Excellence in Scholarship Award is presented to a full-time Lincoln Trail College student who has demonstrated outstanding academic merit and sustained excellence in the classroom. The award is given to honor Joseph C. Piland who was the first President of Lincoln Trail College.  His vision and passion for education were instrumental in the development of a comprehensive community college for Crawford County.
 
Davis, who serves as the Vice President of Fellowship for Lincoln Trail College’s Alpha Iota Epsilon Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, was recognized as an enthusiastic student who is an asset to the student body at LTC. She is a Phi Theta Kappa All-Academic Team Member and was cited as being instrumental in helping research Phi Theta Kappa’s honors project and writing up the proposal for Phi Theta Kappa’s college project.
 
The J. Rod Harmon Excellence in Service Award is presented to a full-time Lincoln Trail College student who has demonstrated outstanding service to the college or the community. Rod Harmon served as a faculty member at Lincoln Trail College for 27 years and has been the Executive Director of the Lincoln Trail College Foundation since 2005.  He is well known for his rich sense of humor, dedication to his wife Diana, and commitment to creating opportunities for all residents of Crawford County to have access to a high-quality education.
 
Amicone, Bascon, and Solivellas were all recognized, in part, for their help serving as Spanish tutors at Robinson High School. Amicone was also recognized for her natural leadership style and for encouraging her fellow international students to be active participants in campus and community activities. Bascon was recognized as being a mentor and a leader and for encouraging others to contribute to the campus and community. Solivellas was also recognized for his participation in Phi Theta Kappa, where he serves as the chapter’s Vice President of Scholarship. 
 
The Bev L. Turkal Excellence in Leadership Award is presented to a full-time Lincoln Trail College student who has shown great Leadership qualities and skills.  This award is given to honor Bev L. Turkal, a true Leader in Education, whose passion was to make a difference and change the lives of children, teens, adults and lifelong learners.   Bev believed to be a strong leader one must live life, care, and show empathy, must have high energy and be competitive to accomplish the goals set to make things happen.
 
In her nomination, Guimaraes was described as great student, a competitive athlete, and a high energy worker. She was recognized for being very intentional in her goal to improve her English language skills and how her work in the ESL classroom and her active involvement in student life have helped her accomplish this goal. It was said that she positively influences her classmates to push themselves to set and achieve goals.
 
Wickliffe was recognized for his growth as a leader in his time at LTC. In his nomination, it was stated that he “possesses good character and maturity, serves as a role model for fellow students, and is an excellent student.  Clint demonstrates strength and resilience while persevering through adversity, always keeping his head held high.”
 
The three awards are given annually, and students are nominated by faculty and staff members. A committee selects the recipients of the awards.