Two local “outstanding young women” from Arkansas State University have been chosen as Distinguished Service Award (DSA) winners in recognition of their exemplary service and contributions during their collegiate careers. One of the students will be announced as the 2019-20 recipient of the university’s highest honor, the R.E. Lee Wilson Award.
The two women are Shawna Martin of Gassville and Braelen Hunt of Bergman.
Martin will receive her Bachelor of Science degree in strategic communications in May through the College of Liberal Arts and Communication, with certificates in social media management, non-profit communication, public relations and advertising. She has a 3.91 GPA.
Because of her success in the classroom, Martin was asked to become a part of an invitation-only class, special problems in marketing. She is a four-time member of the Chancellor’s List and earned the AFLAC Sales Leadership Scholarship, the Troutt Brothers Memorial Scholarship, the Arkansas Promise Scholarship, the L.W. “Tex” Plunkett Journalism Scholarship, the Communications Academic Performance Scholarship and a License to HOWL Scholarship.
Martin is also a member of Kappa Tau Alpha, an honor society for students who have distinguished themselves as being in the top 10% of all students pursuing degrees in journalism and mass communications, and Sigma Alpha Pi National Society of Leadership and Success.
A member of the Student Conduct Board, Martin also was the co-chair of the Sales Leadership Club as well as the organization’s director of administration. She was president of the Advertising Club and worked with the Leadership Center as a pack leader.
Hunt graduated magna cum laude with Honors in August 2019, earning a Bachelor of Science degree in A-State’s coordinated dietetics program in the College of Nursing and Health Professions. She owned a 3.93 overall GPA and 4.0 in the dietetics program. Her minors were disaster preparedness and sociology. Following graduation, she took the registered dietician (RD) exam and passed it on her first try.
While in school, Hunt was a member of Phi Kappa Phi honor society, the nation’s oldest and most selective multidisciplinary honors fraternity. She was also an A-State Honors College student. Her academic contributions include receiving a 2018 Harry S. Truman scholarship, a national graduate fellowship for students pursuing careers in public service. She also was a semifinalist for the Fulbright U.S. Student Program, received an Arkansas Promise scholarship (2015-19), and Arkansas Lottery scholarship (2015-19).
Hunt also became the first Create@State undergraduate research poster winner for the CNHP in spring 2019 by performing research on utilizing nutritional yeast as a source of cyanocobalamin (vitamin B12) in vegan adolescents to prevent megaloblastic anemia, neuropathies and homosysteinemia.
During spring 2019, she received valuable experience with supervised practice at St. Bernards Dialysis Outpatient Clinic; bariatric, medical surgery and intensive care unit at NEA Baptist Memorial Hospital; and the Oncology Outpatient Clinic at St. Bernards.
As a resident assistant, Hunt worked tirelessly to help provide safe, on-campus living options for transgender students during the 2018-19 academic year through the Social Justice Living-Learning Community.
She was involved in numerous organizations and volunteerism, including serving as the executive coordinator of impact, a Title IX student organization, Student Nutrition and Dietetics, Environmental Club, and Feminist Union. She also served as a freelance photographer providing school portraits for foster children and their parents for ABC Homes Foster Shelter and photos on social media of animals available for adoption at the NEA Humane Society.
Recognition of A-State’s top graduating seniors and naming of the Wilson Award recipient will proceed this year through a special online presentation Thursday evening at 6:30. This will replace the traditional private banquet with university representatives and the Wilson Fellows, the A-State alumni group of Wilson Award recipients, a change driven by the coronavirus pandemic.
The DSA winners are recognized as the institution’s most outstanding graduates because of their leadership, scholarship and citizenship. Faculty, staff and advisers to student organizations, and other members of the campus community submit nominations for the prestigious awards.
All of the nominees have achieved excellent academic records and provided countless hours of service to the community, their classmates, campus organizations, their departments and colleges and to Arkansas State University. A committee comprised of students, faculty, staff and previous Wilson Award recipients makes the final selection.
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