Student Leadership Award

The Student Leadership Award honors exceptional graduating students for their volunteer contributions as leaders of student societies, groups and organizations at UIS.

2009 Student Leadership Award Recipients

Samantha Gaddy ’07 PAA is a graduate assistant who has been with the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project since 2005. She will receive her master’s degree in legal studies in 2009. Samantha has worked on a variety of activities during the last four years, including screening inmate letters, organizing fundraisers and attending court hearings and litigation meetings. Her interests include forensic pathology and working on reforms to halt the convictions of innocent people

Shana Stine ’09 LIS, a graduate of the Capital Scholars program, was a volunteer at the Gathiga Children’s Hope Home in Nigeria. As a result of her experience, Shana created Jump for Joel, a nonprofit organization that supports Gathiga Children’s Hope Home. Shana works locally at homeless shelters and missionary services, including at Springfield’s Washington Street Mission, and she hopes to connect schoolchildren with Gathiga and other children’s aid facilities.