KU News Release

LAWRENCE — Ten finalists have been selected for the 19th annual Excellence in Community, Education and Leadership Awards at the University of Kansas.

The finalists will be recognized during a private reception Oct. 9 at the Adams Alumni Center and will participate in the homecoming parade at 9 a.m. Saturday, Oct. 10, along Jayhawk Boulevard.

Two winners, one male and one female, will be announced during halftime of the KU-Iowa State homecoming football game Oct. 10 at Memorial Stadium. Kickoff is 11:30 a.m.

The Ex.C.E.L. Award provides an annual $500 scholarship to two students. The winners will plan a leadership conference during the spring semester in conjunction with KU’s Student Involvement and Leadership Center.

Nominees were selected on the basis of leadership, effective communication skills, involvement at KU and in the Lawrence community, academic scholarship and ability to work with a variety of students and organizations. The selection committee included representatives from Student Union Activities, the Board of Class Officers, the Student Involvement and Leadership Center and the Homecoming Steering Committee.

The award was established and first awarded in 1991 to recognize one male and one female student for achievement and to add student interest to annual homecoming festivities.
Names of winners are listed on a plaque on the fifth level of the Kansas Union.

To be eligible, applicants must be full-time undergraduate students with an overall grade-point average of 3.0 or higher. Each finalist completed an application and participated in an interview. The finalists and brief highlights of their campus achievements are listed below.

ALLEN COUNTY
From Iola 66749
Scott Toland, senior in political science and journalism (news and information), is president of Battenfeld Scholarship Hall and credits his scholarship hall residency as integral to his success at KU. As Battenfeld’s community service chair during his junior year, Toland organized projects all year, including Kids Voting USA at Lawrence public schools during the 2008 presidential election, which earned the scholarship hall the title of Community Service Hall of the Year in 2008-09 for having the most volunteer hours. Among his honor society and leadership roles, Toland, a member of the University Honors Program since he came to KU, has been president of Owl Junior Honor Society. He is senior class treasurer for the Board of Class Officers and editor of the Wave, a KU sports magazine. He was a member of Student Senate from fall 2006 to spring 2008. His freshman year, he performed as the Big Jay mascot with the KU Spirit Squad. He is the son of Karen and the late John Toland and a graduate of Iola Senior High School.

CLAY COUNTY
From Clay Center 67432
Sylvia “May” Davis, senior in journalism (strategic communication), is Student Senate vice president and has served in Student Senate since her freshman year. She has also served as the senate’s transportation coordinator for KU on Wheels, helping create SafeBus and the Transit 101 brochure. She is a Watkins-Berger scholar. Davis has tutored for Kansas Athletics and served her sorority Alpha Chi Omega as public relations chair, recording secretary and Rock Chalk Revue director. She is public relations director for the Board of Class Officers and has been special events co-chair for the Homecoming Steering Committee. She is active in College Republicans and has held legislative internships in Topeka and Washington, D.C. She is the daughter of Duncan and Kim Davis and a graduate of Clay Center Community High School.

DICKINSON COUNTY
From Abilene 67410
Steven Elliott, senior in music, is co-director of the Homecoming Steering Committee and vice president of development for Student Union Activities. Through his SUA role, he raised funds from community sponsors to support the “Project Runway” student fashion show, coordinated leadership activities and initiated the “Hawks that Rock” recognition and rewards program for noteworthy SUA student service. He is coordinator for KU Memorial Unions Event Services. He is president Kappa Kappa Psi national honorary band fraternity. As a saxophone player, Elliott has been active with KU Band in Marching Jayhawks, as a Midwestern Music Camp counselor and as head undergraduate band assistant. He has been a new student orientation assistant and Jubilee Café volunteer the past two years and was spring 2009 elections commissioner for Student Senate. He is the son of Gregory and Vicky Elliott and a graduate of Abilene High School.

DOUGLAS COUNTY
From Lawrence 66049
Mason Heilman, senior in history, political science and secondary education, is Student Senate president. Heilman has been active in Student Senate since his election as a freshman senator. He has been chair of its standing committees as well as its Executive Committee. His student government initiatives included electronic voting to allow students to see how their elected representatives voted on Student Senate issues. He was 2009 emcee for the Traditions Night program to welcome new students to campus and has also been a new student orientation assistant. Active in KU Band since he entered college, he has played trumpet every year with the Marching Jayhawks. He is president of American Baptist Student Fellowship and, through church volunteer activities, has trained and served as a counselor for Family Promise, which provides assistance to three or four area families in need. He is the son of Steve and Sally Heilman and a graduate of Lawrence Free State High School.

Elise Rock, senior in elementary education, has served in leadership roles for her sorority Chi Omega as vice president, helping with academic programming, and as its Make-A-Wish fundraiser and volunteer, raising more than $7,000 each semester since fall 2006 to benefit children. She participates in charity marathons and has operated a swim school to teach children of all ages and abilities. She has been a Student Senate member and an Alternative Spring Breaks site leader at South Carolina School for the Deaf and Blind. Through the Planning for Collegiate Excellence student organization that urges K-12 tutoring and mentoring, Rock has served as a weekly tutor at five Lawrence elementary schools, kindergarten through third grade, and has been kindergarten Sunday school teacher at First United Methodist Church in Lawrence. She has also volunteered among kindergartners at White Church Elementary School in Kansas City, Kan. She is the daughter of Randall and Jane Rock and a graduate of Lawrence Free State High School.

JACKSON COUNTY
From Hoyt 66440 and Topeka
Chelsea Mertz is a senior in political science preparing to study law. She is KU Mortar Board president whose social service achievements are recognized on the 2009-10 KU Women of Distinction Calendar. As 2008-09 regional coordinator for CCO’s Concerned and Active Aware Student Program, Mertz organized a clothing and food drive for the Martin Luther King National Day of Service that yielded more than six truckloads for Penn House and Just Food in Lawrence. She is founding co-director of From Blue to Green: Conserve KU to encourage campus environmental focus and sustainability. As a student assistant with the Dole Institute of Politics, she attended the 2008 presidential inaugural. She is a national committeewoman of Kansas for Young Democrats. She is a volunteer advocate and on the executive board of GaDuGi SafeCenter, a rape-and-crisis center in Lawrence. She is the daughter of Max Mertz of Topeka and Lila Mertz of Hoyt and a graduate of Topeka High School.

JEFFERSON COUNTY
From Perry 66073
Molly Sparks Sailors, senior in social welfare, is Alternative Winter Breaks co-coordinator. After volunteering at several Alternative Breaks sites, Sailors was Weekend Breaks coordinator during 2007-08. She has helped lead two KU Center for Community Outreach programs in Lawrence, including GROW with Boys and Girls Clubs and other youth and Helping Unite Generations in partnership with Douglas County Senior Services. After completing more than 90 hours of training, she became a crisis/suicide hotline volunteer at Headquarters Counseling Center in Lawrence. As vice president for public relations for her sorority Kappa Alpha Theta, she helped organize alumni forums and faculty dinners, coordinate monthly newsletters and manage a spring philanthropy to raise more than $5,000 for Court Appointed Special Advocates. She has been Student Senate representative. She is the daughter of Gordon Sailors and Paula Kellogg and a graduate of Perry-Lecompton High School.

RILEY COUNTY
From Manhattan 66502
David Wilcox, senior in chemistry and English, co-directs KU’s Center for Community Outreach. He helped lead CCO’s Saturday Service Project during Hawk Week when more than 260 KU students volunteered at seven Lawrence locations, including Habitat for Humanity, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Pioneer Ridge Retirement Community and the Lawrence Humane Society. The University Honors Program has provided some of Wilcox’s most valued KU experiences, he said, including directed research projects and the J. Michael Young Opportunity Grant to attend the Student Symposium at the 2009 Telluride Film Festival. He has been a Student Senate representative, Beta Theta Pi fraternity officer and national convention delegate and on the Homecoming Steering Committee, as 2007 parade co-chair and 2008 co-director. He is the son of Dan and Beth Wilcox and a graduate of Manhattan Senior High School.

SHAWNEE COUNTY
From Topeka 66609 and Hoyt
Chelsea Mertz. See JACKSON COUNTY

From Topeka 66614
Matt Enriquez, senior in communication studies and philosophy, is president of Ascend KU, an organization that helps train undergraduate student leaders and coordinates peer education programs. Enriquez has been an onsite coordinator and participant in KU’s LeaderShape Institute. He is vice president of the senior class and also of the KU chapter of Mortar Board student honor society. A former Student Senate representative and Student Alumni Association vice president of outreach, Enriquez is co-chair of daily events on the Student Homecoming Committee. He is assistant director of business operations for KU Dance Marathon for Children’s Miracle Network. As a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, Enriquez been historian and alumni relations chair and Greek Endeavor lead coordinator. He has volunteered at Lawrence Social Service League, Natural Ties and Jubilee Café and, for the last two years, has been a new student orientation assistant. He is the son of Ping and Diana Enriquez and a graduate of Washburn Rural High School.

Ashley Moser, senior in finance and marketing, is co-director of the Homecoming Steering Committee after serving last year as co-chair for special events. As vice president for recruitment for KU Panhellenic Association, Moser spent the summer planning activities for not only incoming women students and their parents but also all KU sorority members involved with welcoming new members. In her Delta Gamma sorority, Moser was pledge class president, public relations director and vice president for member education. She is a member of the Board of Class Officers and sponsorship director for KU Dance Marathon. Moser has been vice president for communications of the American Businesswomen’s Association student chapter and a volunteer Topeka Elite Volleyball coach for seventh- and eighth-graders. Moser noted that being a KU LeaderShape Institute participant influenced her in officer roles and networking with other campus groups. She is the daughter of Jeff and Lori Moser and a graduate of Washburn Rural High School.