“This is a list of students who, not just academically, but in a comprehensive way, are making the most of their time at Flagler,” Dean of Academic Life, Craig Woelfel said during his opening ceremony remarks.
Woelfel acknowledged the level of commitment this achievement required from them.
“It’s not a small accomplishment, it means you didn’t let anything slip- I mean anything,” he said. “That’s a serious accomplishment that requires serious dedication.”
The President's List is compiled in recognition of students achieving a certain standard of academic excellence and is distributed by the Office of Academic Affairs. Students who earn a 4.0 grade point average with at least 12 semester hours of graded credit are named to the President's List.
Woelfel said the dedication to academic excellence that every student on this list help “shape the tone of classroom conversation” and inspire “earnest engagement with ideas, texts, and creative processes.” He said these students are integral to the academic culture at Flagler as a whole.
“The academic culture of a campus lives only to the extent that students breathe life into it,” Woelfel said. “All of the students that are being recognized today are being recognized in part because they breathe a lot of life into our campus.”
In his ceremony remarks, Vice President of Academic Affairs, Art Vanden Houten, called this the “highest level of accomplishment,” that a student could earn.
As an Associate Professor of Political Science, Vanden Houten also recognized the joy that is to work in a classroom setting with students that maintain such a commitment to their academic standing.
“Working closely with the best students is one of the most rewarding parts of the job,” he said.
This academic success is something that Vanden Houten said sets President’s List recipients up to be positively influential members of Flagler’s campus.
“Education, particularly at a place like Flagler, is fundamentally a community endeavor- you should, as students with such great accomplishments, see yourselves as leaders in the community,” he said.
