Rising Professional Award

The Rising Professional Award honors significant contributions made by a graduate in the early stages of his or her career. Recipients have demonstrated significant professional accomplishments in the areas of design, business, human behavior, teacher education, or health sciences.

Here are our latest recipients:

Kennedy Lynn '18, '20
Early Childhood Special Education Teacher
Excelsior Springs School District
Orrick, Missouri

Carly Rahmeier '18
Multi-store Manager
Free People
Los Angeles, California

Taylor Spangler '19
Registered Apprenticeship Program Manager
Kansas Department of Commerce
Lawrence, Kansas

Mayrena Isamar Hernandez '18
Assistant Professor
Sam Houston State University
Conroe, Texas

Shelby Boso '20
Development Coordinator
ICT SOS
Wichita, Kansas

Alex Vonderschmidt '19
Post-Doctoral Researcher
Tufts University
Fairhaven, Massachusetts

Sawyer Hunt '21
Assistant Athletic Trainer
Army West Point
Middletown, New York

Mackenzie Blakeslee '20
Assistant Vice President & Director of Financial Planning
The Trust Company
Ellinwood, Kansas

Past Recipients

2025: Stacy Conner, Allison Cooley, Jack Giardino, Riley Jimenez, Sarah Kolmer, Madeline Heeter Grillo, Korynne Rollins, John Saiki, Desiree Schippers, Josh Smith, Tim Todd

2024: Jamie Ball, Garrick Batley, Andrea Brundis, Kaitlin Chichester, Danielle R. Drake, Anthony Garcia, Mario Garcia III, Abby Hanzlicek, Kate Mielitz, Aaron Norton, Chris Omni, Shelby Page, Barrett Scroggs, Xiaoyu Su, Landon Warmund, Samuel Wilcox, Christina Zemencik

2023: Sarah Asebedo, Sarah Corn, Todd Crane, Krystal Collier, Sam Emerson, Mari Erb, Amber Grisamore, Larissa Holt, Jill Joyce, Sarah Kuborn, Arianna Levin, Erika Smith-Marek, Roxanne Martens, Katy Oestman, Madison Parker, Austin Stock, Sarah Truman, Wally Walstrom

2022: Kristen Buchman, Grace Burghart, Cole Foster, Sydney Hall, Joseph Lightner, Marc Lindstrom, Alyssa Mix, Tiffany Oppelt, Tonya Ricklefs, Brenna Shields, Derek Tharp, and Lauren Koepp Tines

2020: Ryan Baldwin, Brian Bollinger, Sara Bonnes, Lacey Boven, Klaire Brumbaugh, Brooke Cull, Monica Ebert, Staci Gann, Amy Guerich, Teagan Hamblin, Janet Holden, Clark Holdsworth, Clara Valadares Kientz, Corey Miller, Uyen Thuy Xuan Phan, Heath Rath, and Kelby Stehl

2019: C.J. Aducci, Jamie Bosse, Robert T. Davis III, Meghann Day, Cody Derby, Trent Jones, Mitchell Keating, Audrey Koehn, Katrina Marshall, Laura McCabe, Michael Minnis, Kale Monk, Monica Nelson, Kristen Brunkow O'Shea, Pratik Patel, Jake Quigley, and Kara Schmidt-Robben