WEST PLAINS, Mo. – Missouri State University-West Plains graduate Jared Cates, West Plains, was one of six students who received the 2014-15 Citizen Scholar Award presented today, Dec. 12, by the Missouri State University Board of Governors during its regular meeting in Springfield.
The award, established in fall 2007, is given annually to students “who exemplify the concept of a citizen scholar,” university officials said.
Cates graduated cum laude with an Associate of Arts in General Studies degree with a Specialization in Honors at Missouri State University-West Plains in May 2010 and transferred to the Missouri State University-Springfield campus where he obtained a Bachelor of Science in Management/Administration Management degree in 2012 and is currently a graduate student in the Master of Science in Student Affairs in Higher Education program.
During his time at Missouri State-West Plains, he served as a Student Ambassador, speaking with over 1,000 prospective students about his experiences as a student while giving campus tours, assisting with Red Carpet Days and participating in High School Extravaganzas at area high schools. He also was an active member of the Tri Lambda student spirt club, Phi Theta Kappa honor society and was homecoming king during his sophomore year. He also was among the students selected for inclusion in the Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges program and was actively engaged in the William and Virginia Darr Honors Program, serving as a peer leader for the program.
Since transferring to Springfield, Cates has continued to remain active, serving as the welcome chair of the Graduate Recruitment Weekend Committee, giving tours to prospective graduate students, and serving as a Spring Break Immersion Trip Leader to New Orleans to participate in a variety of community service activities. As an undergraduate, he orchestrated an extensive networking effort to bring friends, family members and others in his hometown and throughout Missouri to a St. Louis Cardinals ball game for a fundraiser and support event in honor of his stepmother, who was battling cancer at the time.
“Jared was an outstanding and exceptionally active student at Missouri State-West Plains, and his zeal for learning and serving others has continued at the Springfield campus,” Missouri State-West Plains Chancellor Drew Bennett said. “He has most definitely demonstrated the attributes of a citizen scholar and is very deserving of this award.”
Those nominating Cates for the award noted he epitomizes the key components of a citizen scholar, academically and in public affairs. “Over the past six years, I have seen Jared develop as a student-scholar and as a leader of others, both on the West Plains campus and then later as an undergraduate and now graduate student on the Missouri State-Springfield campus.…He is a great communicator, a visionary and a superb analytical thinker. He’s humble and open minded; a philosopher king at heart who, I believe, is leading his generation into greater potential and influence.…I know without a doubt that Jared’s enthusiasm, work ethic, discipline, and intellectual and personal abilities will take him far from our Missouri State campuses, but our Missouri State campus community will be the better for his being here,” one of his nominators said
“Jared Cates is an excellent student and honorable person with a strong record of academic accomplishment and campus engagement,” another nominator said. “Importantly, he manifests the public affairs ideal of ethical leadership in that he continually strives for excellence and integrity while contributing to the common good and exhibiting the courage to live by his principles.”
Other recipients of the award this year include Jared Bajkowski, a senior entrepreneurship major from Lee’s Summit, Missouri; Brittany Donnellan, a senior international business major with a Spanish minor from Springfield, Missouri; Jordan McGee, a senior economics and organizational communication major from Ellisville, Missouri; Samantha Nichols, a senior religious studies major with an Ozarks studies minor from Stillwell, Kansas; and Konnor Temple, a senior international business major with minors in Mandarin Chinese and logistics and supply chain management from Springfield, Missouri.
The Citizen Scholar Award is given to students who have contributed to the university, advanced the university’s public affairs mission, and have significantly engaged in extra-curricular accomplishments and/or in significant service activities to the community. Each recipient receives a crystal globe in recognition of the award, and their names are added to the Citizen Scholar Wall at Plaster Student Union on the Springfield campus.