Leah Schwarting
Co-Editor
March 15 saw the Lakeland Yacht Club filled with students and faculty for Florida Southern College’s Founders’ Ball and Honors Celebration.
The event was planned for FSC students and faculty members in mind to celebrate the accomplishments of the year.
“In the past, the Founders’ Ball has been a dance,” Assistant Director of Student Involvement Sean O’Brien said. “It’s also been the place where they’ve announced the winners from student government, and the winners from the Agnes Johnson Rowe award.”
However, there was a slight change in the proceedings this year. The celebration was moved to a later date, and it was combined with the Honors Celebration.
O’Brien said that the Honors Celebration “is the award recognition program that the college does to recognize student leaders in student life, and across campus.”
Anyone who was considered for an award had to first be nominated by someone on campus.
Members of the FSC community had to fill out a nomination packet nominating students, faculty, events or organizations.
After the nominations had been submitted, a board decided who would win. At the event, awards were given out to students and organizations.
The awards ranged from individual ones, such as the Student Volunteer of the Year award to Erin Ferguson, to group ones such as the Campus Event of the Year award, which went to the Campus Ministries’ retreat.
“Different areas of campus get involved to recognize different students for different things,” O’Brien said.
Staff and faculty were also included. Deah Quinlivan, assistant professor of psychology, was awarded the Advisor of the Year and received an award from Phi Eta Sigma.
The event was not all awards, though. Dr. Anne Kerr, the college president, was also presented with a digital copy of the school’s yearbook from Interlachen, a gift which she called “precious documentation.”
Scholarships, such as the Reuter scholarship and Zimmerman Award in Excellence were also awarded. Recipients of the Agnes Johnson Rowe and James C. Rogers award were called up to the stage.
Voting for new Student Government Association officers had been ongoing since the beginning of the week. At the Founders’ Ball and Honor’s Celebration the new officers were officially “installed,” in O’Brien’s words.
The first of the new initiates was the new SGA president, Jared Goodwin. Goodwin was called up to the stage and took the oath of office before calling out to the rest of the new officers to join him.
After the awards had been given out, a buffet was opened and the music turned on, opening the second part of the celebration: the ball. Attendees danced to tunes like “The Cha-Cha Slide” as the evening ended.
O’Brien believes that the continued event serves as a way to recognize the accomplishments of the members of the FSC community.
“The purpose is to come together to recognize student leaders across campus and our wonderful students in all different areas, and then celebrate that,” O’Brien said.
