Five students in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences were awarded the Wallace E. Barron All-University Senior Award by the Iowa State University Alumni Association.
Brooke Almasi (’18 public relations), Emily Barske (’18 journalism and mass communication, marketing), Malik Burton (’18 speech communication), Chris Celona (’18 sociology, criminal justice), and Daniel Jacobi (’18 finance, economics and political science) were honored for displaying high character, outstanding achievement in academics as well as university and community activities and promise for continuing these exemplary qualities as alumni. Two of these students were also in the College of Business. The ISU Alumni Association also named two students from the Colleges of Engineering and Agricultural and Life Sciences.
The award is named for Wallace E. "Red" Barron (Class of ’28) who served as director of alumni affairs at Iowa State from 1937 to 1968.
Brooke Almasi
She has served as a leader currently as president of Sorority and Fraternity Community Ambassadors, previously as executive vice president of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority and as president of Student Admissions Representatives (STARS). She is also involved in the Cardinal Key, Mortar Board and Order of Omega honor societies; Advocates for the Alzheimer’s Association; Iowa State University Honors; International Students and Scholars’ Cultural Ambassadors; Pre-Law Club and the Rho Lambda National Sorority Leadership Recognition Society.
Emily Barske
Barske has also interned with the "Cedar Rapids Gazette," Renewable Energy Group and radio station KIX 101.1. She is involved in Iowa State University Honors, Cardinal Key, the Ames-ISU YWCA student board, ISU’s First Amendment Days planning committee, the Greenlee School student advisory board and ISU’s journalism learning community. She is a founding member of ISU’s Association for Women in Communication and previous vice president of ISU’s Society of Professional Journalists chapter.
Malik Burton
He has served as co-chair of the Big XII Council on Black Government’s political action committee, where he worked to educate students on their rights and register them to vote. He also was a member of the ISU Committee on Lectures and a Department of Residence community advisor. He served as an Ames Middle School and High School CONNECT mentor. He is a George Washington Carver Scholar, a National Conference on Race and Ethnicity (NCORE) Scholar, vice president of Alpha Phi Omega Fraternity, Inc., a BOLD peer mentor and a past member of Iowa State’s Multicultural Student Leadership Council and George Washington Carver Advisory Board.
Chris Celona
Celona also is a representative to the Big 12 Conference Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, a member of the social media subcommittee and a panelist representing the league at the 2017 NCAA Leadership Forum. He has received the Cyclone Scholar-Athlete award, the Big 12 Commissioner’s Honor Roll and first-team academic all-Big 12 awards. He is also a member of the Chi Alpha Sigma National College Athlete Honor Society.
Daniel Jacobi
Besides his leadership in the Greek community, he has also volunteered with a number of Ames community organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Memorial Lutheran Church and Relay for Life. He has been active with Student Government’s ISU Legislative Ambassadors and ISU Business Council. He is a member of Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society and was a 2016 ISU Homecoming Cardinal Court honoree. He has worked with the ISU athletic department since 2015 as an event management and game operations intern. He has also held student positions with Caterpillar Inc.’s study abroad program and Lyndhurst Capital.