Honors students recognized with Norrine Bailey Spencer Strong Start Award

Fifty students in Virginia Tech’s Honors College were recently recognized with the Norrine Bailey Spencer Strong Start Award. The award goes to students who achieved a 4.0 in their first semester of study at Virginia Tech.

The namesake of the award is the late Norrine Bailey Spencer, former associate provost and director of undergraduate admissions and former associate dean of the Pamplin College of Business, who often expressed to students the importance of getting a strong start in their university education.

“It is fitting that this award be named in memory of Norrine,” Spencer’s husband, Edward Spencer, said. “With an undergraduate mathematics degree and a Ph.D. in educational evaluation and research, she appreciated how important a strong start is in determining cumulative success. Using the mathematical GPA formula, Norrine was very fond of showing students that after the first semester, each succeeding semester has less and less ability to impact one’s overall GPA. It’s the strong start that is so important!”

The following students were recognized at the Honors College’s spring convocation on Feb. 11:

• Hannah Altizer (First-Year, Exploring Technology)
• Samantha August (First-Year, University Studies)
• Emily Baraclough (First-Year, Biological Sciences)
• Ashley Barlow (First-Year, Business)
• John Bender (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Saket Bikmal (First-Year, Neuroscience)
• Jack Buchanan (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Ryan Buxton (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Hayley Capilitan (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Martha Drapac (First-Year, Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise)
• Jacob Drimer (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Joseph Eversole (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Sean Fleming (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Joy Flowers (Sophomore Transfer, Wild Life Conservation)
• Kathryn Francis (First-Year, Human Development)
• Nicholas Frankenberg (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Maegan Gabby (First-Year, Biochemistry)
• Kyle Gerner (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Tyler Harris (First-Year, Multimedia Journalism)
• Victoria Haxton (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Alison Hempel (First-Year, University Studies)
• Elijah Hodges (First-Year, Mechanical Engineering)
• Daniel Hosack (Junior Transfer, Forestry)
• Amro Hwary (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Ramya Joshi (First-Year, Biological Sciences)
• Amelia Kidd (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Zachary Kim (Junior Transfer, Art)
• Santosh Krishnan (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Justin Laiti (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Cara Lasam (First-Year, University Studies)
• Justin Luy (First-Year, Human Nutrition, Foods, and Exercise)
• Lauren Maloney (First-Year, Biological Sciences)
• Patrick O'Shea (First-Year, Political Science)
• Helen Oker (First-Year, Biochemistry)
• Lauren Osborne (First-Year, Systems Biology)
• Kenneth Petscavage (First-Year, Statistics)
• Philana Quan (First-Year, Architecture)
• John Quilty (First-Year, Biochemistry)
• Alexandra Schmitz (First-Year, Finance)
• Emily Sellards (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Ryan Shaffer (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Garren Snow (First-Year, Biochemistry)
• Senah Stephens (First-Year, Biochemistry and Biological Sciences)
• Rebecca Straley (Senior Transfer, Human Development)
• Sarah Thorpe (First-Year, Cognitive and Behavorial Neuroscience)
• Chenming Wang (First-Year, General Engineering)
• Alexander Ward (First-Year, Industrial Design)
• Robert Weaver (First-Year, Industrial Design)
• Amy Wikiera (First-Year, Computational Modeling and Data Analytics)