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Kevin D. Knight Leadership Awards recognize students’ accomplishments and contributions

April 21, 2020

Every year Northern Illinois University recognizes exceptional student leaders with the Kevin D. Knight Leadership Awards. These awards recognized students’ accomplishments while honoring the legacy of Kevin D. Knight who was an exceptional student leader dedicated to improving campus life through his service in various leadership positions.

Students were invited to apply for the Kevin D. Knight Leadership Awards in the following categories: Freshman Leadership Award, Sophomore Leadership Award, Junior Leadership Award, Senior Leadership Award, Graduate Leadership Award, Institutional Tuition Waiver Award, Outstanding Student Organization Award and the Steven R. Agee II Award.

Many students applied for the Kevin. D. Knight Leadership Awards and solicited recommendation letters from faculty, staff and community leaders. The applications and recommendation letters reflected the positive traits and unwavering dedication of our outstanding students.

One recommendation letter had this to say about an award recipient: “His involvement with the Economic Student Association as vice president, senator and chair of SGA University Services Oversight Committee shows his strong commitment to our NIU community and distinguishes him from the rest of the students in the department.”

Another letter stated, “He completed over 300 hours of direct service activities with our community through the Huskie Service Scholars program, working with the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies,” and “took lead on several community-based initiatives that his team was tasked with and showed great attention to detail and responsibility in his work.”

This year 22 students and one student organization are being recognized for their outstanding work and involvement on campus.

Each year one student is also identified from one the first four award categories (Freshman, Sophomore, Junior and Senior Leadership Awards), as someone that went above and beyond, just as Kevin D. Knight had done during his time at NIU. That individual receives a special award known as the Kevin D. Knight Leadership Award. The recipient of this award will be named, notified, and recognized at a later time.