Voting is now open for the 2017 Tommie Award nominees. The preliminary voting, ending on Dec. 8, will narrow the the field down from 17 to three finalists. The final round of voting takes place Feb. 7-9. Last year’s winner was Anna Fry.

Mackenzie Burke, American Culture and Difference major, English minor, 3.7 GPA

Burke is from Waseca, Minensota and has been a leader in the St. Thomas community through her role as a transfer orientation and transition leader and co-founder of the Change Makers club. She is also an active member of FemCom, St. Thomas’ Feminist Community.

She has served her community as a BrightSide Farm Stands student coordinator, which helps make fresh produce more available to low-income urban neighborhoods, as well as a HECUA intern at Harrison Neighborhood Association, which focuses on food security and community vision in North Minneapolis.

Tiara Gowen, Accounting major, 3.35 GPA

Gowen has been involved in the St. Thomas community as president of the Accounting Club, a Becker Student Ambassador, a Business Undergraduate Mentorship Program mentor, an accounting intern for BrightSide Produce and her active involvement in Delta Sigma Pi. She has also worked as a student building manager for Tommie Central, as well as a SAP student assistant.

Ellie Henkemeyer, General Business Management and Environmental Studies majors, 3.91 GPA

Henkemeyer has been the captain of the varsity track team for the past three seasons. She is passionate about the environment, working at the St. Thomas Stewardship Garden and BrightSide Produce to harvest and coordinate delivery for fresh produce around the Twin Cities. She loves working in the outdoors, serving as an outdoor leader at Wilderness Inquiry in Minneapolis and a guide at Les Voyageurs Inc. in St. Cloud.

Zachary Lang, Accounting major, Communication and Journalism minor

Lang has been an enthusiastic member of the St. Thomas community, working as a mascot, RA, tour guide, Tommie Ambassador, KUST radio DJ and member of the Sports Broadcasting Club. He has proven to be a leader in the community as a co-founder of You Just Made My Day, a group where St. Thomas students can request things that would make their day.
He is also the vice president of Campus Outreach, a captain for Team World Vision, and a co-author and publisher of “How to be You in a Group,” encouraging fellow students to be confident in their own strengths.

Scott Laska, Actuarial Science major, Business Administration minor, 3.99 GPA

Laska has served as a math tutor leader in the Mathematics Resource Center, the webmaster of the Math and Actuarial Science Club, and an admissions tour guide. He is also an Aquinas Honors Member peer mentor and a member of the band The Shankos.

Bridget McGivern, Biochemistry major, 3.90 GPA

McGivern has been a dedicated student-athlete as a member of the Varsity Women’s Track and Field team and a captain of the Varsity Women’s Cross Country team. She is also a co-leader of St. Thomas’ Fellowship of Christian Athletes and a team representative for the Student Athlete Advisory Committee.

McGivern has extensive research experience, working as a project leader for a research project, presenting at the American Chemical Society in San Diego, California and receiving the Leading EDGE award from the biology department.

Michelle Miller, English (Writing Emphasis) major, American Culture and Difference minor, 3.60 GPA

Miller has been an active member of the St. Thomas community through her involvement in St. Thomas choir as a member of the Chamber Singers, Cadenza and social chair and section leader of the Women’s Choir. She is also a member and choreographer for PULSE dance club.

Miller has extensive leadership experience, working as an orientation leader, RA, REAL Program peer advisor, and Selim Center for Learning in Later Years student worker. She has received the honors of Outstanding LINKAGES Mentor of the Year award and Luann Dummer Center for Women Student Leadership Grant recipient.

Mary Naughton, Operations and Supply Management major, Catholic Studies minor, 3.64 GPA

Naughton has been heavily involved on campus through her positions as senator and academic affairs vice president on the executive board of the Undergraduate Student Government, an RA, a student medical assistant at McCarthy Gym, Delta Sigma Pi, Business Operations Club, VISION trips and the Tommie softball program.

She has worked with many faculty and staff members as a student liaison on the Academic Affairs Committee, Dining Services Committee, Technology Committee, University Lectures Committee, and has also worked with the Interfaith and Dialogue Cooperation Focus Group and the Board of Trustees Finance Committee.

Bekka Peterson, Business Law major

Peterson was a part of the St. Thomas cheerleading team, a scheduling assistant the Facilities department and a student communicator at the phone center. She has worked tirelessly over the past three years to come back to St. Thomas and earn her degree after she was critically injured in a hit and run accident.

Maria Post, Psychology major, Catholic Studies and English minors, 3.97 GPA

Post has been actively involved in the St. Thomas Psychology department, working on nearly a dozen research projects, presenting at a psychology conference for the past three years and working as an educational assistant.

She has been involved in several service projects on campus, including the Corporal Works of Mercy, where she wrote letters to inmates, Sharing Caring Hands, where she collected clothes from the dorms on campus to donate, and SecondHand Harvest, where she collected over 60 pounds of food from St. Paul homes to donate. She also worked as a peer minister through Campus Ministry.

Elizabeth Reynolds, Family Studies and Psychology majors, 3.26 GPA

Reynolds has been a leader on campus as a Tommie Ambassador, study abroad orientation leader, St. Thomas blogger, admissions tour guide, St. Jude Up ‘til Dawn Executive Board sponsorship chair, Love Your Melon Campus Crew Ambassador leadership board and Neighborhood Senator for the Undergraduate Student Government.

She has dedicated time to volunteering in the community through the St. Paul Children’s Hospital and the Child Development Center on campus, and enjoyed studying abroad in Rome and Ireland.

Ellie Rowland, Marketing major

Rowland has been on the St. Thomas Women’s Varsity Track and Field team since she was a first-year student. She has also been involved in the SAM Mentorship program, PULSE dance club and Adopt a Grandparent Program. Rowland has been a Tommie Mascot for the past four years, as well as a technology assistant on campus.

Sarah Rumon, Actuarial Science major, 3.69 GPA

Rumon has been involved as a Tommie Ambassador, the Math and Actuarial Science Club and a student researcher. She has personally mentored a number of underclassmen in preparing for career fairs, interviews and classes.

Rumon was the founding member and first president of Gamma Iota Sigma, an insurance business fraternity on campus, and has been able to lead on a national level through her involvement on the executive board and international student representative of Gamma Iota Sigma.

Gabrielle Ryan, Psychology and Family Studies majors, Sociology and Renaissance Program minor

Ryan has been an active member of campus, serving as the vice president of diversity for the Undergraduate Student Government, the co-founder of Student of Color: Claim Our Seats movement and the ASIA Club and an executive board member for Black Empowerment Student Outreach.

She has also done extensive volunteer work in the community through Bridging, Feed My Starving Children, Stamp Out Hunger, Habitat for Humanity, Stamp Out Hunger and VISION.

Maria Silvia Olvera, Communication and Journalism major, Business Renaissance Program minor

Overa has been a leader on campus as the president of the HOLA, serving on the executive boards on HANA and Capoeira Club, a commuter advisor for Off-Campus Student Services and an Early College Awareness Tour Guide for Student Diversity and Inclusion Services.

She is also an active member of Students of Color: Claim Our Seat and a volunteer for Youth in Action.

Alex Spanton, Financial Management major, Economics and Catholic Studies minors, 3.64 GPA

Spanton has been a part of Saint Paul’s Outreach, Tommie Catholic, a student communicator and has taken part in numerous Office of Spirituality sponsored retreats. He has also been an active participant in intramural sports since he was a first-year student, and has studied abroad in Rome. Spanton has been recognized as a leader through the iLead internship program from Northwestern Mutual.

Shannon Twiss, Justice and Peace Studies major, Sociology and Spanish minors, 3.94 GPA

Twiss has been an active voice for social justice on campus as a facilitator for St. Thomas’ Feminist Community and a member of the coordinating council for University Advocates for Women and Equity. She has also worked at the Luann Dummer Center for Women and as a student coordinator for the Justice and Peace Studies department.

She is also an active member of Delta Epsilon Sigma and spent a semester studying abroad in Barcelona, Spain.

Mary Brickner can be reached at bric0029@stthomas.edu