Four female students received the annual “On the Shoulders We Stand” award from the Women’s Resource Center, which is given in recognition of outstanding efforts in the classroom and the community.
Seniors Katrina Holder, Kristin McElroy and Elizabeth Martinez and sophomore Tamyra Hunt will be recognized at a luncheon as part of the resource center’s “A Celebration of Women” conference March 30. The winners and all nominees are being honored in a display case outside of the Walsh Library.
Candidates could have been nominated by anoyone, including themselves. All nominations were reviewed by Celestina Sierra, assistant director of Campus Life.
Tamyra Hunt, who said she didn’t know she had been nominated until she won, was the only person in the competition nominated twice. Nominations for her were submitted by her freshman studies mentor Christine Saladino and her roommate, Laura Helbing, who was nominated.
“My roommate called me and told me to check my e-mail,” she said. “The honor is huge, but even bigger is that my roommate nominated me, someone who deserves it as much as me.”
Elizabeth Martinez has almost completed a major in criminal justice and a minor in Spanish, and said she intends to stay at Seton Hall for graduate school before going to law school.
“It feels great to be a minority, not only a woman, but a Latina woman, and be recognized for something positive,” Martinez said.
Kristin McElroy, a diplomacy and international relations major, is president of the Senior Class Council, treasurer of the Student Activities Board and a member of Alpha Sigma Tau. She also spent her last two spring breaks volunteering with Division of Volunteer Efforts in El Salvador.
“I thought a lot of people got it, so with just three others, it was a real nice honor,” McElroy said.
Katrina Holder majors in marketing and runs the 400m for the women’s track team. She also volunteers at the Don Bosco Youth Center and works as a student athlete mentor. Holder was nominated by Matthew Geibel, associate director of Academic Support for Student Athletes.
“He helped me a lot when I came from Barbados, settling in, getting through my classes,” she said. “I’m so grateful.”
The contest, which was established in 1999 by Sharnette Underdue, the director of the Woman’s Resource Center, continues to grow, according to Sierra. This year the number of nominees doubled.
To learn more about the center or the conference, contact Sierra or stop by the Women’s Resource Center next to the Living Room in the University Center.
Kevin Kilgore contributed to this article.
Andrew Medeiros can be reached at medeiran@shu.edu.
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