Nadia Ayensah receives recognition as a student laureate at the Old State Capitol in Springfield, Ill. With her are, from left, Kai Swanson, special assistant to the president at Augustana; Frank Clark, chancellor of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois; and Eric Trimble, regent of the academy
Senior from Ghana honored as Lincoln student laureate
Nadia Ayensah, a senior from Cape Coast, Ghana, was honored as Augustana's student laureate of The Lincoln Academy of Illinois at a ceremony in Springfield Nov. 16.
Each fall, a senior from each of the state’s four-year colleges and universities and one student from the community colleges in Illinois is awarded the Abraham Lincoln Civic Engagement Award, becoming student laureates.
In the spirit of Lincoln, student laureates are honored for their "leadership and service in the pursuit of the betterment of humanity and for overall excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities."
Ayensah, a political science and philosophy major, also has been active with the Student Government Association at Augustana. She was a recipient of Augustana's Excellence in the Liberal Arts award for 2019, and the winner of the 2019 Ethics Essay Contest for “The Ethical (or Not So Ethical) Story behind Your Bar of Chocolate.”
Each student was presented with a certificate of merit signed by the governor, a Lincoln medallion, and a $1,000 check.
This is the 45th year The Lincoln Academy has celebrated students’ excellence in Illinois.