Awards Round Up: Fellowships, Awards, and NCAA Titles
When alumna Maddie Zimmer arrived in Evanston in 2020, Northwestern’s field hockey team hadn’t reached a Final Four in 26 years.
Zimmer, a relentless and lethal threat on both sides of the ball, helped change that, leading the Wildcats to three national titles during her career — including back-to-back national championships in 2024 and 2025.
An Olympian, 5-time All-American, and Northwestern’s only two-time Honda Sport Award winner, Zimmer is a finalist for the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the 2026 Honda Cup.
“She'll go down as one of the best athletes, male or female, that has ever played for this university,” head coach Tracey Fuchs predicted.
But Zimmer will have some friendly competition from fellow Wildcat and SESP graduating senior 
Madison Taylor, one of the nation’s best lacrosse players, who also led her team to NCAA championships in 2023 and 2026. Taylor, the 2026 winner of the Tewaaraton Award, the most coveted individual honor in collegiate lacrosse, was the first-ever Women’s Lacrosse League College Draft selection will join the California Palms after graduation.
Tune in Monday, July 27, at 7 p.m. ET on CBS Sports Network to find out who wins the Collegiate Woman Athlete of the Year and the 2026 Honda Cup.
Read more about our outstanding students:
SESP 2025-2026 NCAA Division I National Champions:
- Lacrosse: Alexandra Blake, Noel Cumberland, Abigail LoCascio, Annabelle Mahoney (her sister, Carleigh, was on the 2023 national championship team), Jaylen Rosga, Madison Smith, Jenna Soto, Madison Taylor, Alexis Ventresca
- Field Hockey: Maddie Zimmer, Ashley Sessa
Timothy Huff, who was named a Northwestern University Student Employee of the Year in Community and Belonging for his leadership work with Black Men LEAD, a mentoring program at Evanston Township High School. Huff, from San Antonio, Texas, was a key member of the program, which was formed in collaboration with the Northwestern/ETHS Partnership Office to help Black men develop leadership skills, build strong connections, and embrace their identities.
Anusha Kumar received a U.S. Student Fulbright Award to teach English in Linz, Austria.
Jack Lausch won the Paul Stevens Life Teammate Award, which is presented annually to the Northwestern baseball senior who best embodies the spirit of a Life Teammate — a leader on the field, in the locker room and in the community — as voted by teammates. Lausch was the first Northwestern athlete to play both baseball and football for the Wildcats since Dan Kubiuk in 2015-16. He was a three-time College Sports Coaches Academic All-District (2024 Football, 2025, 2026).
Grace Lee received a 2023-2024 Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship.
Keya Soni Chaudhuri and Symone Harris served as 2025-2026 Block Museum Student Associates.
Junior Juniper Shelley was the 2026 winner of Northwestern University’s $10,000 Circumnavigators Travel-Study Grant. She'll study how men in different cultures experience loneliness, masculinity, and emotional connection in five countries — Mexico South Africa, Sweden, Japan and Australia— over 10 weeks, crossing every meridian.
Connor Wong attended the second annual Allstate Foundation National Youth Service Summit in Chicago last year.
Senior Honors Students: Sanad Alshubbak, Brooke Fein, Paloma Jourdes Ferdman, Lea Kalkowski, Anusha Kumar, Anya Mateu-Asbury, Elizabeth Park, Sara Peña Figueroa, Shayna Tribush and Shreya Wojno.
- Kumar's thesis, “From Scarcity to Solidarity: Mutual Aid as a Pathway to Food Justice and Urban Resilience in Chennai, India," won two awards at the Chicagoland Undergraduate Research Symposium, including top overall and top poster in social justice.
- Mateu-Asbury received the 2025 Clark and Hinman Foundation Fellowship.
- Kalkowski won Best Oral Presentation for the Justice, Community.
- Winnie Wang won Best Overall Expo Poster Presentation for her work “Compensatory Mechanisms of Avoidant Attachment.”
- Valentina Parra, tied for first for “Dark Humor: Race-Blindness, Racism, and Racialization in Mexican Digital Discourse” in the arts, humanities and journalism division.
- Payton Lowenthal-Wojcik, placed second for “First-Year Transition Programs: an X Factor for the FGLI College Experience in the social and behavioral sciences division.
- Other students who presented include the senior honors students and Chase Bell, Sharmel Gibson, Grace Lee, Jack McNiel, Rayan Rahmani, Victoria Ramos, Emma Relyea, Anna Truong, and Kris Yun
Commencement speaker roles: Convocation co-chairs Sara Peña Figueroa and Denzel Higiro emceed the event; Rayan Tabidi delivered undergraduate student convocation remarks. Sanad Alshubbak, Weici Sun and Kirka Kallioras provided introductions.
David Kamenetz, who majored in social policy and economics, received the Alumni Leadership Award. Kamentz is founder and co-president of Northwestern's branch of 180 Degrees Consulting, which unites students around a common goal of supporting nonprofits and developing the next generation of leaders committed to making a difference. He can "recognize potential in others before they see it in themselves," his nominator wrote. "Truly impactful leaders are defined by the way people grow in their presence. David exemplifies this leadership consistently." After graduation, he will join EY-Parthenon in New York as an associate.
Other SESP senior leaders include:- Sara Peña Figueroa: Convocation co-chair, director of Wildcat Welcome for the School of Education and Social Policy, Fellow, Center for Civic Engagement fellow
- Kirka Kallioras: Founder and president of the Greek American Legacy Association, vice president of Northwestern University Investment Management Group and president of South Area Council at Northwestern
- Erica Kramer: President of Northwestern's Vietnamese Student Association
- Nyssa Shahdadpuri: Co-president of Splash at NU
- Shayna Tribush: President of the Transfer Student Organization
- Hamin You: Asian Pacific American Coalition co-president, senator for the Associated Student Government
Drew Wright, a member of the Wildcat’s volleyball taem, was selected as a 2026-27 fellow for Team IMPACT, which connects children facing serious illness and disability with college athletic teams. She also attended the Uplifting Athletes Leadership Development Conference and was a member of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee.
Golfer Daniel Svärd earned membership to the PGA Tour Americas. Svärd, who placed 19th in the final rankings, recently concluded his Northwestern career in 19th place at the NCAA Athens Regional. The senior from Jarfalla, Sweden earned 15 top-5 finishes and three collegiate wins across his career and leaves Northwestern with a career stroke average of 71.14, second only to Donald in the Wildcat record book.
Tona Zinn, a member of the men’s swimming team, was a member of the Student Athlete Advisory Committee Executive (SAAC).