Jake Athyal and Erica Leblanc hosted the 2014 SGA awards. They started the event lightly with jokes that really hit it with the crowd before they introduced SGA President Billy Cerullo and Suffolk President James McCarthy to give their own speeches thanking each and every student and student organization for their performances to build a better community at Suffolk.
“It is a little nerve wracking,” said Athyal,”I’ve hosted Suffolk and non-Suffolk events but nothing at the Ritz Carlton.”
After Cerullo and McCarthy’s opening statements, the Ramifications performed a capella songs of “What a Night” by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and Tarzan’s “Bash in the Camp.” Afterwards, the different awards were presented while the spectators and nominees enjoyed soup, chicken, and pudding. Then, a video presentation featuring the different organizations was shown to praise student involvement in the university.
The first award presented was for the New Student Organization of the year, which was won by the Public Relations Society. The Most Improved Student Organization of the Year went to Theta Phi Alpha, one of Suffolk’s sororities.
Outstanding College of Arts and Sciences Student of the Year went to Corinne Decost and Dennis Harkins won the Outstanding Sawyer Business School Student of the Year. Professor Bruce Wickelgren and Professor John McCoy won outstanding faculty of the year for their respective departments.
Outstanding Administrator of the Year went to David DeAngelis and Rebecca Ryan won Outstanding Graduate Fellow of the Year, while Jaclyn Davis was Suffolk’s Coach of the Year. In an interview with The Suffolk Journal, Davis mentioned “[I’m] really honored to win and I worked with great coaches everyday.”
Jennifer Ruys was the favorite and winner of Outstanding Female Athlete of the Year and she mentioned after the event that she felt that just being considered in the group of nominees was an honor. Jake Cintolo was the Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year.
For the different student of the year awards, Cherno Jallow got the award for Outstanding International Student of the Year; Transfer Student of the Year went to Felicia Krentzman who gave a short speech saying that she was glad she transferred to Suffolk.
The Outstanding Freshman of the Year was John Gately, who mentioned in his short speech that he had not expected to win. The winner of Outstanding Sophomore of the Year was Colin Loiselle, next year’s SGA Vice President.
Outstanding Junior of the Year was Tyler Leblanc, the recent winner of the elections of SGA president, and Outstanding Senior of the Year was Ashlie Triolo-Dekkers, who is involved in planning Senior week.
The Student Organization Sponsored Program of the Year was the Soul Food Luncheon and Geraldin Batista, with the Black Student Union, received the award, and the Campus Sponsored Program of the Year went to the Temple Street Fair.
The Unsung Student and Faculty heroes were Malorie Kranis and Kathleen Mahoney, respectively.
The Outstanding Student Organization of the Year went to Black Student Union and the Exemplary Leadership Award went to SGA President Billy Cerullo.
The night ended with a musical performance by Nischeena Charles. Afterwards, the Silent Auction was mentioned and continued on through the end of the event and the hosts mentioned that the proceeds were going to the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC).
The present SGA then passed the torch to next year’s SGA officials, led by Tyler Leblanc, next year’s SGA president. And John Silveria, who gave the closing remarks, thanked everyone for coming to the event and ended the night.
