JJC Honors Program students recognized at graduation celebration

JOLIET — The night before she gave the student speech to more than 300 of her fellow classmates at the 2009 Joliet Junior College Spring Commencement Ceremony, Abbey Atkinson shared in a different academic celebration.

The Joliet native was honored at the college’s Honors Program Graduation Celebration in May with several peers for her academic achievement while at JJC. Graduation Celebration is the culminating event to all the activities and work the program’s nearly 80 members accomplished throughout the year.

Atkinson credits the honors program for fostering an atmosphere that promotes academic opportunity and challenge for students—certainly a must for Atkinson, whose dream job is to work at NASA developing the field of space flight exploration.

Six JJC Honors Program students were each awarded $2,000 scholarships by Midwest Generation, LLC. This year’s recipients were Ellwyn Bohnert of Joliet, Aaron Criss of Bolingbrook, Jillian Geagan of Frankfort, Sean Hansen of Plainfield, Allie Mahalik of Wilmington, and Christine Ruffatti of Gardner.

Only a handful of students complete the rigorous requirements to graduate with full institutional honors, which include having a grade point average of 3.5 or higher, 15 credit hours of honors course work, and participation in honors program activities.

The following students were honored for graduating with full institutional honors: Leeanne Daoust of Plainfield, Jillian Geagan of Frankfort, Daniel Rio of Plainfield, Lauren Eklund of Channahon and Christine Ruffatti of Gardner.

The JJC Honors Program provides curricular and co-curricular opportunities for students of all majors to enhance their academic experiences while at JJC.

For more information, visit www.jjc.edu/services-for-students/academic-resources/honors/Pages/default.aspx.