Zachary Lang, Michelle Miller and Alex Spanton have all been named finalists for the 2017 Tommie Award and moved on to the final round of voting to be held Feb.7-9.
Students, faculty and staff selected the three from a pool of 18 nominees recognizing them for their campus involvement, leadership and scholarship. TommieMedia asked the three finalists how it feels to be nominated, their proudest achievement during their time at St. Thomas and what’s next for them.
Michelle Miller
How does it feel to be nominated as a finalist?
“It has been really exciting and a nice pick me up,” Miller said. “It’s really nice just to be recognized and have a tangible example of how what I’m doing matters. Whenever I’m doing a group project or working on a paper I can think, ‘oh yeah, I’m a Tommie Award finalist!’”
Miller is a resident adviser, an orientation leader and has been involved in choir, the REAL Program, PULSE, Cadenza, Donne Unite and the chamber singers.
What’s your favorite memory/achievement at St. Thomas?
“One of my favorite memories would probably be doing the real program. I was the summer intern for the real program in the summer right before my junior year and did everything from working with my co-worker who is so hilarious and just kept it a fun summer to my students,” Miller said. “We had 16 students who were all so incredible and so full of kindness, and just so fantastic for St. Thomas as rising first-year students that my heart was so full by the experience, and it was a really satisfying thing to do.”
What’s the next step for you?
“I’m currently a dance teacher and choreographer in my hometown so I’d really like to keep doing that for awhile but my goal, because I’m an English major, is to go abroad to South Korea and teach English,” Miller said. “They also have a really great dance scene out there, so I’d probably want to improve my own skills and take class out there. In the long term, my goal is to be a children’s author.”
Zach Lang
How does it feel to be nominated as a finalist?
“I’m really grateful to be nominated,” Lang said. “It blew me away with just the fact that I was nominated for it by some of my good friends, and then to be one of the finalist is so crazy to me because we have so many awesome seniors who weren’t even nominated so it feels special.”
Lang is a resident adviser and has been involved in Campus Outreach, Team Tommie Mascot and co-founded the You Just Made My Day initiative.
What’s your favorite memory/achievement at St. Thomas?
“My first year as an RA is when I really learned what being a Tommie is about, what being at St. Thomas is about because we had a floor that was really a community,” Lang said. “I experienced that my freshman year too but especially being able to foster that community was unreal.”
What’s the next step for you?
“I’m doing a sales internship at Hershey company right now, Hershey’s chocolate, and I might continue doing that so probably do something in sales with them,” Lang said. “I might continue in communications and public relations, that’s what I’ve been doing in COJO is PR.”
Alex Spanton
How does it feel to be nominated as a finalist?
“I’m super humbled, it feels great,” Spanton said. “I’m just really thankful, excited, really happy for the other two finalists as well.”
Spanton is a Catholic Studies Leadership intern and has been involved in Tommie Catholic, St. Paul Outreach, intramural sports and the iLead Program with Northwestern Mutual.
What’s your favorite memory/achievement at St. Thomas?
“I actually studied abroad in Rome this past spring so to be able to go abroad with the Catholic Studies program and immerse in the culture was amazing,” Spanton said. “That would be definitely my favorite memory.”
What’s the next step for you?
“So after college, I still have to make a decision but I have the opportunity to either work as a financial planner with Northwestern Mutual, or I will be doing mission work with St. Paul outreach,” Spanton said. “So I still have to make the decision, but whatever allows me to make an impact and use my gifts for the glory of God.”
The final vote to determine the Tommie Award recipient will be held online Feb. 7-9.