Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award

The Lincoln Academy Student Laureate Award is a prestigious honor that recognizes the efforts and accomplishments of NIU's top graduating students. Each year, this award is given to an outstanding senior from each of the four-year degree-granting institutions of higher learning in Illinois.

NIU department leaders: please review and complete the nomination form.

All NIU faculty are encouraged to put forward excellent nominees for endorsement consideration by their department.

Nomination Information

• Nominations are due Monday, March 18, 2024.
• You will answer four questions about the nominee in the nomination form.
• You are no longer required to provide letters and CV documents for this step of the process; student nominees will be contacted for additional information.

Student Nominee Requirements

• Be an NIU rising senior who is graduating in fall 2024, spring 2025 or summer 2025.
• Be enrolled as a full-time student through to graduation.
• Have a GPA of 3.5 or better at the end of the spring 2023 semester.
• Be nominated by a department; multiple units can collaborate to nominate a specific student, which is appropriate if a student has more than one departmental home.

Students: upon being notified of your nomination, please submit a personal statement and résumé by Monday, March 25, 2024.

Past Award Recipients

• 2023 - Merveille "Yvette" Muyizere
• 2022 - Vilaya "Ling" Sirivong
• 2021 - Megan Nordstrom
• 2020 - Jill Belluomini
• 2019 - Ian Pearson
• 2018 - I Younan An
• 2017 - Rachel Jacob
• 2016 - Rebecca Rasmussen
• 2015 - Kiran Gill
• 2014 - Abby Jeppson
• 2013 - Sarah Stuebing

Testimonial

I always tell myself you can start anywhere. The smallest things you can do now can grow into bigger things. Just take a step at a time. With every accomplishment, every achievement, it showed me I’m capable of anything I put my mind to

Merveille Muyizere, NIU 2023 Lincoln Laureate Reciepant