Students, family and friends gathered at the 27th Annual Senior Honors Luncheon and Awards Ceremony Saturday, celebrating 70 outstanding senior honors students.

“Students, congratulations. We know you will do great things when you leave here, and we know when you do those things that you will think of Kent State,” said Todd Diacon, provost and vice president of academic affairs, when welcoming everyone to the luncheon. “This is a good day to be at Kent State.”

The Senior Honors Luncheon and Awards Ceremony is a celebration of all the hard work each senior honors student accomplished during their undergraduate years at Kent State. The luncheon took place in the Kent Market 2 on the second floor of the Student Center Saturday afternoon starting at 11:30 a.m.

Interim Dean of the Honors College, Donald Palmer, started the afternoon recalling a time when he was a freshman and attended a lecture by Robert Frost. Palmer quoted him and said, “You think you are here to study, but you are actually here to fall in love, to fall in love with a person, to fall in love with a career and to fall in love with an idea.” Palmer said this is what the Honors College is all about.

After a few speeches, Wayne Elliot, the coordinator of advising and alumni relations for the Honors College, came to the front of the room to announce all 70 senior honors students. When each student was called up, they received a flower and Elliot read a short speech on each student about what he or she has accomplished and his or her plans for the future.

“I am so pleased to have known such wonderful students; you guys study abroad, you continue to do community service and continue to make everybody in the Honors College and at Kent State University so proud,” Elliot said. “Don’t stop.”

The afternoon concluded with the first ever 2013 Donald R. Williams Honors Scholarship, which is a scholarship funded by the honors advisory board following the retirement of Donald R. Williams.

The $1,000 scholarship was given to honors student Michaela Kline, junior international relations major. She was given the award for her high marks, interest in foreign language and her desire to study abroad next year in Geneva, Switzerland.

“I am very honored, and I want to do a lot in that honor,” Kline said. “I plan on definitely trying to write an honors thesis and contribute more to the Honors College because they have inspired and motivated me so much through out my time here so far.”

The luncheon ended with all the seniors standing up together to recite the Senior Honors Oath, while holding their flowers in the air. Palmer concluded the afternoon by thanking all the students one last time for all that they have accomplished at Kent State and wished them good luck in their futures.

Contact Abby Bradford at [email protected].