Cowley sophomore named Arkansas City student of the year

With several worthy candidates up for the honor of the Arkansas City Student of the Year, Cowley College sophomore Victoria Ukaoma was surprised to hear her name called during a banquet held April 13 at Cowley’s Earle N. Wright Community Room.

“I was really surprised because there were so many good people picked for the final round,” Ukaoma said. “Not expecting it made it that much better. It makes me feel like I did my best here at Cowley.”

Ukaoma was chosen from among three finalists, one each from Cowley College, Arkansas City High School and Arkansas City Middle School.

Earlier, three top students were named from each school. At Friday’s banquet, the top student from each school was named, and then Ukaoma was named as the overall winner.

The second place winner from Cowley College was Alex Gottlob and third place went to Chansi Long.

At Cowley, Ukaoma serves as editor for the Cowley Press, along with being a student ambassador and a resident assistant in the Oscar Kimmel Dormitory.

Ukaoma, who attended Maize High School, chose Cowley after meeting with journalism director Dave Bostwick and taking a tour of the campus.

After Cowley, she plans to attend college at Washburn University in Topeka.

“It is going to be really hard to leave and move on to another school,” Ukaoma said. “I feel Cowley was perfect for my personality and made me feel more confident about moving on to a university.”

The city has given this award each year since 1984. A committee is chosen by the city and it takes nominations from school teachers and administrators to select the winners. The process includes interviews with the students. The selections are based on grades and the interviews.

Spring 2007