{"id":140544,"date":"2024-04-02T17:29:21","date_gmt":"2024-04-02T21:29:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=140544"},"modified":"2025-04-15T22:15:57","modified_gmt":"2025-04-16T02:15:57","slug":"ucfs-2024-order-of-pegasus-other-distinguished-student-honors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/ucfs-2024-order-of-pegasus-other-distinguished-student-honors\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF\u2019s 2024 Order of Pegasus, Other Distinguished Student Honors\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF\u2019s extraordinary students honored on Wednesday for Founders\u2019 Day have unleashed their potential and excelled in colleges and disciplines across the university.<\/p>\n

Among the undergraduate and graduate students are groundbreaking national and global scholarship winners, researchers, athletes, teaching assistants, residence assistants and leaders in campus organizations such as Student Government, LEAD Scholars and the President\u2019s Leadership Council.<\/p>\n

The honorees include students in the Burnett Honors College, transfer students, and those from first-generation and international backgrounds.<\/p>\n

Aside from focusing on academics and campus causes, many of the student honorees volunteered at hospitals, food banks, schools, parks, shelters, clinics, youth clubs and with many community service organizations \u2014 at times as organizers and coordinators for support drives and campaigns.<\/p>\n

The Student Honors Celebration<\/a> is Wednesday from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. in the Student Union\u2019s Pegasus Ballroom. The\u00a0annual event is part of a\u202fFounders\u2019 Day celebration<\/a>\u202fwith separate staff, faculty and student ceremonies at the same place. The campus community is invited to all the celebrations.<\/p>\n

Student award categories highlight inductees of the Order of Pegasus, UCF\u2019s highest student honor; graduate awards for outstanding master\u2019s thesis and outstanding dissertation; undergraduate awards for honors undergraduate thesis; and individual college awardees as chosen by the respective college deans. All honorees earned financial awards.<\/p>\n

The Order of Pegasus features 31 inductees with exceptional achievements as undergraduate or graduate students. The group includes National Merit Scholars, Burnett Medical Scholars and earners of prestigious honors such as the Astronaut Scholarship, Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship, McKnight Doctoral Fellowship and the Newman Civic Engagement Fellow. Some of the students have worked with national organizations, such as the Department of Defense, Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration.<\/p>\n

They conducted, presented and published research on many subjects, including simulation training, asteroid surface science, cardiovascular health, experimental game design, nanoparticles treatments for illnesses and diseases, mathematics education, quality of life for those with ALS and limb differences, wetland systems, health impacts of pickleball, and bridging the gap between art and STEM-based studies.<\/p>\n

Each student aspires to make a difference in the world in their own way with dreams of become educators, doctors, a lawyer, a professional athlete, a hospitality leader, a foreign service officer, a dentist, an accountant, an engineer and supporter for corrections reform.<\/p>\n

Here are the students being honored.<\/p>\n

Order of Pegasus Inductees<\/h2>\n