Best of the Best

For their scholastic achievement, their extraordinary service to the university and the community, and their personal courage and persistence, three graduating seniors at UC Santa Barbara have been named winners of the university’s top awards.

• Zenzile Reddick is the recipient of the Thomas More Storke Award for Excellence, the campus’s highest student honor, for outstanding scholarship and extraordinary service to the university, its students and the community.

• Kuvimbanashe Edwin Chikukwa is the recipient of the Jeremy D. Friedman Memorial Award, which recognizes outstanding leadership, superior scholarship and contributions to undergraduate life on campus.

• Paige Farrenkopf is the recipient of the Alyce Marita Whitted Memorial Award, which recognizes a nontraditional student’s endurance, persistence and courage in the face of extraordinary challenges while pursuing an academic degree.

These and other student award winners were honored at a University awards ceremony and reception in the campus’s Corwin Pavilion.

The 2019 Mortar Board Award, which is given in recognition of having earned the highest cumulative GPA of the graduating class, was presented to Nick Anthony O’Dea, who earned a bachelor of science degree in physics from the College of Creative Studies.

In addition, Samantha Sanchez received the Yonie Harris Award for Civility in Public Discourse, which is presented to a graduate who best exemplifies the principles of free speech and respectful dialogue and who fosters a campus climate of civility and open-mindedness; and Jasmine McBeath Nation received the Michael D. Young Engaged Scholar Award, named for the vice chancellor for student affairs emeritus and is awarded to students who have skillfully integrated their scholarly knowledge and/or values into action.

Other awards included the University Service Award, the University Award of Distinction and the Vice Chancellor's Award for Scholarship, Leadership and Citizenship.