SENIORS RECEIVE MERIT AWARDS
Laura Haas of De Pere, WI and Joseph Eppert of Republic, MI, both seniors at Michigan Technological University, have received the 1999 Merit Awards from the Michigan Tech Fund. The awards are presented annually to graduating seniors for leadership, achievement, and service to the University.
The awards, which were presented to the winners by Michigan Tech President Curt Tompkins, include a framed 11x14 inch color print of the MTU campus and a check for $250. Each recipient's department received a check for $500.
Haas is a biological sciences major with a Grade Point Average of 3.19. She received the 1998 Dean's Award for Service, is current president of the MTU Film Board, current vice president and past president of the MTU Panhellenic Council, past sisterhood chair for Delta Phi Epsilon sorority, and a recipient of the Michigan Tech Student Foundation Scholarship.
She has been an undergraduate teaching assistant in biology and botany since 1996 and has also served as Chemistry Learning Center coach and team leader during that same period. During the summers of 1997-98 she was head counselor and a counselor for MTU's Summer Youth Programs and Women in Engineering programs. She is presently head orientation team leader for the University, overseeing the training for a staff of 60 team leaders.
Haas hopes to pursue a career as a high school biology or chemistry teacher.
Eppert, a mechanical engineering major, carries a Grade Point Average of 3.97. He has been on the Dean's List every quarter during his tenure at Michigan Tech and has received a Leadershape Scholarship, the Provost's Award for Scholarship, and an MTU Undergraduate Research Fellowship. He has also been cited with a Certificate of Merit from the Department of Mathematical Sciences and is a recipient of a Michigan Competitive Scholarship.
Eppert has served as an undergraduate research assistant, president of the Daniell Heights Residents Council, Winter Carnival Snow Statue Chairman for 1998, and was a participant in the 1998 Houghton County Parade of Nations. He has also been a member of the Alpha Society and a volunteer with Copper Country Habitat for Humanity. He plans to enter graduate school to earn his Master's degree in mechanical engineering, then pursue a career as a professional engineer.
"The Michigan Tech Fund is proud to sponsor this award, which honors outstanding seniors," said Tech Fund Executive Director Kimera Maxwell. "We are so impressed each year by the quality of the nominees and the scope of activities in which they are involved. To be so well-rounded and still maintain excellent grades is a wonderful testament to the type of students who attend Michigan Tech and to the quality of the education provided here."
The Fund also recognized five seniors, all from Michigan, as Nominees of Distinction. They are: Daniel Amerman, a business administration major from Dexter; Michael Laquere, a mechanical engineering major from St. Clair Shores; Ryan Towles, a biomedical engineering major from Pinckney; Adrienne Diver, a civil engineering major from Jackson; and Laurie Kaiser, a mechanical engineering major from Brighton. Each of the distinguished nominees received a check for $100.
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05/14/99