![\"Group](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Tower-of-Excellence-Awards-04142026-8004.jpg\")
The 2025-26 Tower of Excellence Awardees are, from left to right, Alia Beseiso, Iryna Snahoshchenko, James “Trip” Floyd III, Ashton Widenhoefer, Shawn Monteiro and Colin Kinnersley.<\/p><\/div>\n
\u201cThe Tower of Excellence Award represents the very best of what it means to be a Rocket,\u201d said Dr. Mitchell S. McKinney, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. \u201cThese outstanding students have not only demonstrated exceptional academic achievement, they also have dedicated themselves to leading, serving and elevating our campus community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are incredibly proud of their accomplishments and look forward to the remarkable impact they will continue to have.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 2025-2026 Tower of Excellence awardees are:<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Colin Kinnersley, graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biology<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Iryna Snahoshchenko, graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in data science and economics<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Ashton Widenhoefer, graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in nursing<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Shawn Monteiro, graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in bioengineering<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 James “Trip” Floyd III, graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in media communications<\/p>\n
\u2022\u00a0 Alia Beseiso, graduating with a bachelor\u2019s degree in biomedical engineering<\/p>\n
Tower of Excellence Award nominations were solicited in January and February, with students who qualified with a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 and plans to graduate in 2026 invited to then complete an application.<\/p>\n
Winners were selected by a committee of faculty and staff.<\/p>\n
The Donald S. Parks Student Organization Awards, recognizing outstanding students, student organizations and student-organized events that have positively contributed to the campus community, were announced at the same ceremony.<\/p>\n
Parks Student Organization Awards are named in honor of the late Donald S. Parks, who served as dean of students for more than two decades beginning in 1950.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The graduating students were recognized for their leadership, academic excellence and community service during a ceremony on Tuesday, April 14.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":878,"featured_media":98443,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,32,34,61,36,498,39,1,7],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98442"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/878"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=98442"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98442\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98445,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/98442\/revisions\/98445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=98442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=98442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=98442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Group](\"https:\/\/news.utoledo.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Tower-of-Excellence-Awards-04142026-8004-150x150.jpg\")
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