Three Students Honored for Highest Ranking in Second-Year Class at Holy Cross

WORCESTER, Mass. – Elizabeth Morse, Jonathan Niconchuk, and Kelly Shaw are this year’s recipients of the Mrs. Kate C. Power Medal. This award is presented to the highest ranking student(s) in the second-year class. Morse, Niconchuk, and Shaw share top ranking among the 712 students in the Class of 2009.

Funded by an anonymous bequest in 1942, the award consists of an engraved medal and a cash prize.

Morse, a biology major with a biochemistry concentration from Shelton, Conn., is involved in a number of activities on campus: Student Programs for Urban Development (SPUD), COMPASS, biology society, and the MAGIS program. She is a science ambassador, admissions volunteer, member of the biology student advisory committee, HAYES (Helping Area Youth Embrace Spirituality) retreat team leader, student leader for the Hour of Power Interdenominational Prayer Group, and a teaching assistant for the Worcester Public Schools Summer Science Institute. She is a member of the College Honors Program, Ignatian Scholar, and two-time Dana scholar awardee.

Niconchuk, a chemistry and Spanish double major with a premedical concentration from Topsfield, is the incoming director of community relations for the Student Government Association, and is also involved with SPUD. He is a member of the chemistry student advisory committee, and a judicial advisor on campus. Niconchuk is an Ignatian Scholar and a two-time Dana Scholar awardee. He is currently studying abroad in Costa Rica and will be a leader on the Manresa retreat in October.

Shaw, a Spanish and economics double major from South Windsor, Conn., is a member of the Holy Cross track and field squad, a member of SPUD, and head greeter at campus liturgies. She is an Ignatian Scholar and is currently studying in Spain.