Four seniors receive Faculty Honors

The Faculty Honors award is bestowed upon graduates who excel in academic achievement, Christian influence, general attitude and participation in worthwhile campus activities. The highest honor the faculty gives to graduating seniors, it is determined by a vote of the entire faculty.

Boote, a religion and public relations major from Hull, Iowa, will graduate Summa Cum Laude. A member of the Sigma Tau senior honor society and an Honors Program graduate, Boote was a recipient of a Norman Vincent Peale Scholarship. She has been active on campus as an academic tutor, a staff member on the student newspaper and a member of the Student Government Association. She previously served on the Campus Ministry Team, student ambassadors and orientation staff. She will pursue a Master of Divinity degree at Yale Divinity School in New Haven, Conn., next fall.

Hulstein, a theatre and writing/rhetoric major from Sioux Center, Iowa, will graduate Magna Cum Laude on May 16. The recipient of the English department’s Outstanding Graduating Senior Award, Hulstein has conducted Junior Scholar research with a professor and served as a writing and academic tutor. Involved in a number of Northwestern theatre productions, he also participated in the Drama Ministries Ensemble and the Black V improv team. Hulstein helped organize campus symposiums on global climate change and global hunger.

Kester, a computer science and actuarial science major from Urbandale, Iowa, will graduate Summa Cum Laude. He received the Outstanding Graduating Senior Award from the computer science and mathematics departments. A member of Sigma Tau, he was one of three Northwestern students on a team that advanced to the Association for Computing Machinery International Collegiate Programming Contest world finals in Stockholm, Sweden, in April. Kester was active as a tutor and served as a resident assistant. An associate in the Society of Actuaries, he has accepted a position with The Segal Company in Chicago, where he will be doing actuarial work in the pensions department.

Lassen, a history major from Remsen, Iowa, will graduate Summa Cum Laude on May 16. A Sigma Tau senior honor society member, she received an award last year for presenting the best paper in media history at the University of South Dakota’s Student History Conference. The recipient of Northwestern’s Outstanding Calculus Student Award in 2007, Lassen has served as an academic tutor for three years.