On Honors Day, there are many reasons to celebrate. The Rall Symposium takes place in May in Wentz, where dozens of undergraduates present research and honors projects they’ve worked on, professors and staff are recognized for their hard work and achievements, and awards are given to outstanding students for excelling in their fields. But one award, Senior Man and Woman of the Year, encompasses all disciplines and extra-curriculars on campus. This year’s recipients were seniors Jon Kingzette and Heidi Nelson.
“It’s truly comprehensive since it’s a multi-disciplinary, it’s voted on my peers and faculty, and it’s truly an honor to be recognized in this way,” said Heidi Nelson.
Between the two of them, Nelson and Kingzette are involved in nearly every aspect of campus. They cover the Honors’ College, multiple honors societies, residence life, SGA, study abroad, intramurals, and nearly everything in between. Their involvement on campus was just one of the reasons they were selected for the award among a pool of deserving candidates. Though their schedules are frequently busy and hectic, both Nelson and Kingzette stay motivated to keep pushing themselves to be their best.
“My motivation is definitely my family and friend support group, and faculty at North Central who have really become my life advisors,” said Nelson, who’s majoring in elementary ed and Spanish. “Also, its my future students, because in order for me to best educate them for our world, I need to be prepared.”
“For me, part of it is because I’m a very high-energy person,” said Kingzette. “I figure if I do have all that energy, I might as well put my time into making my North Central time great but also making it great for others.”
What drives Nelson and Kingzette is the hope to help others- both want to help others have a successful life, whether that’s at North Central or beyond. For both recipients, their desire to help others have come from the very experiences that they said were some of their best memories at North Central. Both said that it was the moments when they could talk with their peers and professors about issues in and out of the classroom that stood out as some of their most memorable moments at NCC.
“Those in-between class moments with my education peers or my Spanish peers. We could get into deep discussions discussing the content that we’re learning but also explore brand new territory that wasn’t necessarily facilitated by a faculty member, but we were still able to continue learning outside of a specific classroom environment,” said Nelson.
Kingzette agreed, citing a specific interdisciplinary class called Landmark Discoveries in Science taught by Dr. Jankowski where students across all disciplines were able to engage in conversation that covered a multitude of topics.
Those interactions with their peers and staff members that meant so much also made receiving their awards that much sweeter. Both were shocked and humbled when their names were announced, but grateful that all the people they respect so much felt the same way about them.
“I guess I never knew how many people deeply appreciated everything I’d done so it was really gratifying to just have an award- the award itself doesn’t mean anything, but the fact that faculty and stuff pick that award, and the fact that they took the time to say that the work I do on campus earns the award,” said Kingzette.
Following graduation, Kingzette hopes to pursue a PhD in political science with a focus on how fictions become narratives and vice versa in the political world. Meanwhile, Nelson will student-teach in the fall before leaving for a ten-month stint in Argentina, thanks to a Fullbright award. She’ll be a college professor teaching how to teach English-language learners.
But even as Kingzette and Nelson prepare to leave North Central to continue their careers, they want to leave behind advice for future students looking to pursue their dreams.
“The biggest advice I’d give people is to find a way to be unique without stomping on other people’s uniqueness,” said Kingzette.
“Become comfortable with the uncomfortable,” said Nelson. “Because if you never push yourself, you’re never going to grow as a person, and you’ll miss out on a lot of great life opportunities.”
