Bluffton University recognized many of its top students for their academic achievements at the annual Academic Awards and Honors Forum on April 24.

Introduced as distinguished scholars in their respective academic areas were 34 seniors. In addition, Jenna Eshleman, a volleyball player from Landisville, Pa., and Meron Dibia of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, were honored for having the highest scholastic records among senior athletes and international students, respectively.

A dozen graduating seniors were recognized for completion of the Honors Program. In addition to Dibia, they are Christine Amstutz of Cassopolis, Mich.; Jennifer Arnold of Fort Wayne, Ind.; Kayla Berkey of Sandusky, Ohio; Samuel Cook of Toledo, Ohio; Tasha Fleming of Russells Point, Ohio; Rachel Harris of Carey, Ohio; Ethan Hershberger of Upper Sandusky, Ohio; Megan Hilkey of North Canton, Ohio; Beth Kuntz of Covington, Ohio; Samantha Lawrence of Harrod, Ohio; and Emily Shellabarger of St. Marys, Ohio.

Arnold, Hershberger and Shellabarger were also among seven seniors who received departmental honors for independent-study projects. Arnold was cited for her project in social and behavioral sciences, titled "Burmese refugees and employment: Understanding perceptions and effects of a job development program," and Hershberger, for his project in religion, "Technology's Place in the Congregations of the Ohio Mennonite Conference."

The other five projects earned departmental honors in English-Shellabarger's "The Long Arm of the Law vs. The Disabled Arm of the Accused: Race and Gender Relations in the American Legal System"; "The Voice of Peace: An Guth na Sioch'ana," by Stephanie Finn of Toledo; "Pulling at the Semi-Invisible Threads: Unraveling the Flaws of Dystopian Political Systems in 'Nineteen Eighty-Four' and 'Brave New World,'" by Rachel Giovarelli of Wauseon, Ohio; "Argetl'am: A Retelling," by Melinda Hood of Amelia, Ohio; and "Depictions of Conflict: A Comparison of White/Native-American Relations in Cooper's 'The Last of the Mohicans' and Welch's 'Fools Crow,'" by Kelly Schroeder of Leipsic, Ohio.

Arnold also received the Jim Satterwhite Award in Peace Scholarship and Activism, while Hood claimed the Naomi Brenneman Prize-awarded for an outstanding research and/or interpretive essay on a literary topic-for her essay, "Masks of Chivalric Love: Silent Joy and Cacophonous Uncertainty." Winning the John D. Unruh Award for the best research paper in the humanities and social sciences was sophomore Jared Horstman of Cloverdale, Ohio.

Other award recipients included:

. Joshua Bruner of Wauseon, the Financial Executive International Award.
. Caroline Loudon of Cornell, Ill., the CRC Press Chemistry Achievement Award.
. Laurin Waidelich of Stryker, Ohio, the Esta Lugibill Dye Award for Excellence in Chemical Science by a Woman.
. Jonathan Luginbill of Bluffton and Kimberly Rupert of Ottawa, Ohio, the Russell A. Lantz Choral Award.
. Scott Troyer of Sugarcreek, Ohio, the Instrumental Music Award.
. Abby Ferrell of Arlington, Ohio; Isaac Schumacher of Bluffton; Lydia Speicher of Marysville, Ohio; and Kevin Williams of Pandora, Ohio, the Art Show Juror's Awards of Distinction. Williams also won the Boehr Award for Best of Show.
. Megan Schadle of Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and Ross Shoup of Apple Creek, Ohio, the Dr. Elizabeth Hostetler Outstanding Educator Award.
. Chalsi Eastman of Norwalk, Ohio, the first Association of Youth Ministry Educators Student Excellence Award
. Evniki Hesse of Waxhaw, N.C., the Lion and Lamb Art Award.

Concluding the program was recognition of 17 graduating members of Pi Lambda Theta National Education Honor Society; two graduating members of Psi Chi National Psychology Honor Society; 45 new members of Bluffton's Pi Delta Society, an honorary for seniors with a grade point average of at least 3.75 during their college careers; and 29 C. Henry Smith Scholars-13 graduating, five continuing and 11 newly elected scholars.