Our Students

Student Success

from math and research, to softball and track

Many of the students on YSU’s Ethics Bowl team have probably never even seen a vinyl record – like one you put on a turnstile to play music.

Truth is, though, that the Penguins Ethics Bowl team is a lot like a broken record – success after success after success after success after success after success.

This past year, for the sixth consecutive year, the YSU Ethics Bowl team won the Central State Regional Ethics Bowl, and with the victory advances to the national contest in February 2022 in Cincinnati for a seventh consecutive year.

“Outstanding,” Provost Brien Smith said. “Absolutely amazing,” added Bruce Waller, professor and former chair of Philosophy and Religious Studies.

YSU Softball team celebrating a victory over Cleveland State — Avery Schumacher hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the eighth inning to lift the Penguin softball squad over Cleveland State and secure the 2021 Horizon League softball regular season championship at the YSU softball field.

The winning streak is among dozens of accomplishments of YSU students over the past few months, from building canoes made out of concrete to capturing six – yes, six – Horizon League conference titles.

With the half dozen Horizon titles, including men’s and women’s outdoor track and field, women's golf and softball (regular season), YSU won the McCafferty Trophy, given to the school with the best performance across the conference's 19 championship sports. It was the first time YSU won the award in its two decades in the Horizon.

Other notable student successes include:

Taylor Tomb, a senior Primary and Special Education major, won the Outstanding Senior Award from Alpha Xi Delta, the sorority’s most prestigious award to a collegiate member. She was the first YSU student to ever receive the national award.

Cole Sexton, a senior Chemical Engineering major, was named Intern of the Year in the College of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics. Tumininu Adeeko, a junior Mechanical Engineering major, was named Co-op of the Year. Sexton, interned in the Paint Department at Lordstown Motors Corp., while Adeeko served as a Wen H. Ko Intern with the Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

Minh Nguyen, a senior in the Williamson College of Business Administration, was a Top 3 Finalist in the 2021 National Media Sales Pitch Competition presented by the National Association of Broadcasters.

Five Mathematics students presented research at the annual national MathFest, taking home four awards for excellence. The YSU team has historically been one of the most successful at the annual event, winning its first awards in 1989.

The scholarship of top graduate students, including Michael Alexander Barren, was recognized at the annual Diversity of Scholarship event in Kilcawley Center.

Machine learning, Latin jazz and autism were among the topics featured as six graduate students were honored at the annual YSU Diversity of Scholarship event. The event highlights the diverse scholarly pursuits of YSU graduate students.