42 honored at annual SRSA banquet

The Student Recreational Sports Association held its annual honors banquet last Tuesday in Alumni Hall at the Indiana Memorial Union. The banquet, organized and run by the SRSA student executive board, recognized outstanding achievements of IU volunteers, participants and student employees of Campus Recreational Sports. \nThe night’s top honors belonged to Annie Willis, a financial aid administrator at IU for more than 20 years and member of the Recreational Sports Advisory Board. Willis was presented with the SRSA Honor Medallion Award, the highest recognition possible through SRSA. \n“It’s humbling,” Willis said. “I am very grateful, and this is just amazing. It’s a wonderful feeling, and I feel it deep in my heart.”\nWillis credited her fellow colleagues, as well as the students who are involved with SRSA, for their support and motivation to help her reach a point of such prestigious recognition. \n“It is because of student leaders that have developed through this organization that has caused me to be an even better leader, and to do what I do on behalf of this organization,” Willis said. \nOverall, it was a pretty emotional scene in Alumni Hall. One student in particular was called to the podium to receive awards and praise on numerous occasions, triggering tears and sobs from faculty and students alike. Senior Adriane Bookwalter, president of SRSA, took home the second-highest award of the night with the Jill Behrman Emerging Leader Scholarship. Bookwalter didn’t stop there. She was also awarded the Robert Stumpner Outstanding Senior Award, as well as given additional recognition in front of the gathered attendees for her efforts in convincing various organizations across campus to endorse the new facility master plan. \n“I could not have done it without my (Executive) Board, and I could not have done it without the staff. I will always look back on this as a great experience, but I couldn’t have done it without anybody else,” Bookwalter said. “It was a phenomenal experience being the president of SRSA.” \nThroughout the night, a total of 42 awards were given out to exceptional people involved in Campus Recreational Sports. Awards were distributed through various aspects of Recreational Sports, such as intramural, club and informal sports, aquatics, fitness/wellness, member services, facility support and marketing. \nSRSA named alumnus Chase Weigt and junior Marie Coomes its Male and Female Athletes of the Year for Intramural Sports, respectfully. Club sports named its Athletes of the Year as well, with Jonathan Rodgers taking home the male honors, while junior Krystina Neuman took home the women’s crown. \nAt the conclusion of the banquet, each senior who will graduate in May was asked to stand and receive applause from younger students as well as Recreational Sports’ faculty and staff. Also as a tradition of the banquet, outgoing president Bookwalter presented the gavel to incoming president, sophomore Alex Sidebottom, symbolizing the start of his term at the helm of SRSA.