ASU honors ceremony set for Thursday

ALBANY — In an effort to formally recognize and honor undergraduate students who have demonstrated excellence in their academic course work and research, Albany State University will hold its Honors Day ceremony on Thursday.

This year a total of 750 students will be recognized, a significant increase from the 470 students recognized last year.

Florence Lyons, an ASU speech professor and director of the Honors program, said students with the highest GPAs in four categories will be honored, including 41 students who attained 4.0 averages for all semesters in 2017, 215 full time students on the dean’s list, 188 part-time students on the dean’s list, and 306 freshmen who kept GPAs at 3.5 or higher throughout the year.

Lyons said the three students with the highest academic performance levels for the year will serve as keynote speakers for the event. They are Chiagoziem S. Agu, a sophomore biology major; Levi K. Koebel, a junior business management major and Alexius K. Lampkin, a senior forensic science and chemistry major.

Lyons, who is working with the students to prepare their reflective speeches, said each student will talk about their own “pathway to success.”

“Last year, we started an innovative way to further honor these students by having the students themselves become the speakers,” Lyons said. “I believe that this has more impact because students hear from their peers how to obtain their dreams and goals.”

Agu said Tuesday he believes time management is one of the most important skills needed to achieve success.

“I had to prioritize studying over extracurricular activities,” he said.

Agu also spoke of the importance of having mentors and sponsors. Originally from Nigeria, Agu attended high school in Atlanta.

“My sisters and my parents were three steps ahead of me,” he said. “They told me about the mistakes they made so I would not repeat those mistakes so that I could succeed.”

The ASU honor student said if he had one bit of advice for other students it would be to make use of the resources on campus.

“At first I was skeptical, but you just have to put your ego aside and use the resources,” he said.

Agu said the writing center, the MAC lab and the tutoring center are helpful resources.

Lyons said that Agu was recently selected as a Frederick Douglas Scholar through the University of Pennsylvania, and with that honor he will get an all-expense-paid trip to Cape Town, South Africa, this summer.

“Only 10 scholars were chosen,” she said.

After the trip is over, Agu will come back to the ASU campus and share his experiences with his fellow students.

Noting that the theme for this year’s Honors Day program is “Honoring a Legacy of Academic Excellence and Achievement,” Lyons said that all of the students have demonstrated great achievement and can serve to inspire other students.

The program will be held at the HPER Gymnasium on the ASU East Campus starting at 10 a.m.