Spalding University Honors Scholar Program

What an amazing year!

A couple weeks ago, the Honors Scholar Program celebrated the end of the 2025-2026 school year at our second annual Senior Dinner. This event is designed to celebrate the achievements of the graduating seniors and provide awards to outstanding Honors students.

This year's AMAZING Honors Seniors:
Garrett Barry
Brooke Bradley
Emily Hodge
Sanreesa Hornbeak
Sophia Watson

We also presented 26 awards to outstanding Honors students. We are so proud to be surrounded by impressive, curious, and academically-motivated students. This year's award recipients are listed below.

Outstanding Officer Award: Bailey Haws

Outstanding Peer Mentor Award: Emily Hodge

Student Leadership Award: Brooke Bradley, Makenzie Day, Erin Eggar, Bailey Haws, & Alyssa Smallwood

Academic Excellence Award: Anna Graves, Bailey, Haws, Lucy Jones, Aakash Malvankar, Brooke McNeal, Evan Orr, & Diya Skariah

Most Active Student Overall: Erin Eggar

Most Active First Year Student: Tessa Shirley

Most Active Second Year Student: Alyssa Smallwood

Most Active Third Year Student: Erin Eggar

Most Active Fourth Year Student: Brooke Bradley

Most Active Mid-Year Join: La'Niya Richardson

Social Change Award: Malakhi Barton

Emerging Leader Award: Harleigh Beumer

Undergraduate Research Excellence Award: Malakhi Barton, Grace Brown, Addy Kallembach, & Makenna Roush

A huge thank you to Dr. Anne Kenworthy, Spalding University President, who welcomed our Honors Scholars to the Senior Dinner and provided an encouraging speech, Mr. Rico Tyler, a professor from WKU, who served as this year's keynote speaker, and all of the faculty who serve Honors students.

Check out these Honors Scholars!

Four amazing Honors Scholars, Makenna Roush, Malakhi Barton, Grace Brown, and Addy Kallembach, presented at the Kentucky Honors Roundtable this past weekend at Northern Kentucky University.

Makenna Roush: “Equity in Action: Using Research to Improve Skin Cancer Screening Access,” a presenting based on research conducted during her internship at Norton Healthcare.

Malakhi Barton: “LGBTQ Prison Experiences, Recidivism, and Beyond These Walls,” a presentation based on a case study as part of a Criminal Justice class at Spalding.

Grace Brown: “The Light Microscope: A Multifaceted Instrument,” a poster presentation based on a special intensive course at WKU.

Addy Kallembach: “The Lasting Impact of ACEs on Emotional Expression and Nurture in Adulthood,” a poster presentation from Dr. Fowler’s PSY103 course at Spalding.

We are so proud of you, the work you have done, and how you have represented Spalding University this past weekend!

The Honors Scholar Program had a great winter party last Wednesday filled with lots of joy, laughter, and fun!

THANKFUL for our amazing CoCo Officers (Erin, Kenzie, Bailey, Alyssa, & Brooke) for putting on this Thanksgiving Potluck and all our attending HSP members!

Stay tuned for more events!

Our CoCo Officers have been hard at work this week creating donation boxes to collect non-perishable food items, gently used/new clothes, and gently used/new toys for charities, non-profits, and shelters around Louisville.

Help our CoCo Officers make an impact on our Louisville community! Donate any of these needed items at one of four of our donation box locations:

📍1st floor of the Library

📍2nd floor of Mansion West by the elevator

📍Columbia Gym

📍The Suites

It’s that time of the year! Help the Honors Scholar Program give back to the community! A little bit goes a long way 💙

Come Join us for our Thanksgiving potluck! Sign up to bring a dish using this link https://nam10.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.signupgenius.com%2Fgo%2F10C054AACA929A4F4C61-60087520-hspthanksgiving&data=05%7C02%7Casmallwood01%40spalding.edu%7C51b6941d8e5f4cbf254208de17dc39bd%7C5cbc070288d542ab98a8b55bcd4370ad%7C0%7C0%7C638974431782993748%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJFbXB0eU1hcGkiOnRydWUsIlYiOiIwLjAuMDAwMCIsIlAiOiJXaW4zMiIsIkFOIjoiTWFpbCIsIldUIjoyfQ%3D%3D%7C0%7C%7C%7C&sdata=85L%2BzdkdEGBilNpLDDzcxkwT%2FH6fkrw%2B987ROG%2BBoys%3D&reserved=0

Makenna, Hannah, and Dr. Beach had a fabulous time at the Kentucky Honors Roundtable over the weekend! Makenna and Hannah presented a poster from Honors BIO 495, titled "Phage Hunters in Action: Undergraduate Discovery and Learning Through Research." Thanks to Murray State and WKU for your support of our project!

🎓 Grad school on your mind? Come join our Graduate School 101 panel as faculty and staff share experiences of applications, school-life balance, and what they wish they knew before starting. Don’t miss your chance to ask questions and get real advice!

📆 Thursday, October 2nd

⏰ 2:30 pm

📍 ELC Lectorium

Honors students earn 50 points for attending!

First honors scholar event of the year and we are off to a great start! Our induction ceremony went terrific and we are very excited to welcome our new honors students to the program!