The University of Rhode Island held its 28th annual A. Robert Rainville Leadership Awards ceremony Tuesday night to honor student leaders who go above and beyond their roles in the campus community while maintaining a good academic record.
The awards were divided into four categories, and the recipients for each award were named after a formal dinner that was held in the Memorial Union Ballroom and a brief introduction by one of their fellow nominees.
Starting off the night was the Rainville Student Employee Award, which honors students who show professionalism and initiative while working as a university employee. The award had two recipients: senior Brendan O’Keefe, who is a senior building manager for the Memorial Union, and junior Jennifer Scotti, a residential advisor as well as the president of Housing and Residential Life’s RA board. Â
The next category, the Rainville Team Excellence Award, recognized student organizations that “work together with exceptional effectiveness to accomplish a specific task.†The award went to the URI Powerlifting team, who in the last year managed to quadruple their membership and qualify for the 2015 National Collegiate Powerlifting competition.
Then the 2016 Robert L. Carother’s Servant Leadership Award was presented, an award that honors students who meet the 10 characteristics of servant leadership. These characteristics include listening, empathy, healing, awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight, stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and building community. The recipient was honor student and senior Kelsea Adams, who is the president of URI’s Jumpstart team, a national organization that helps prepare preschool children from low-income neighborhoods for introduction into the school system.
The final and keynote award of the night, the Rainville Student Leadership Award, was received by senior David Cummings. Cummings is currently captain of the men’s swim and dive team, as well as president of URI’s Bridges International, an organization that helps international students adjust and succeed during their stay at the university.
Every finalist for the Rainville Leadership Awards, which included 13 students and four student organizations, were shortlisted from a much larger pool of nominees through a long and stringent assessment process that took place over the months leading up to the event. Each finalist was recognized and honored before that category’s recipient was announced.
“I’m more amazed every year by the amount of things our students are involved with…and how they’re left standing at the end of the term,“ Maureen Mcdermott, interim director of URI’s Memorial Union and coordinator of the ceremony, said. “I’m truly impressed at all they do.â€
The awards are named in memory of URI alumnus A. Robert Rainville, who during his time as vice president of student affairs at the university was an important friend and mentor to countless students.