Two WILL students receive top academic honor
The University Mace Award is the top academic honor at the University of Richmond and for the second time in four years, a WILL student received the accolade. In 2008, the University awarded Allison Speicher this prestigious award, and in 2004, Viola Trebicka earned the same.
Recipients of the Mace Award are stellar students. Speicher, for example, was the only student in the class of 2008 to graduate with a perfect 4.0 grade point average.
The University Mace Award was established in 1947 as a gift in honor of Douglas Southall Freeman. Freeman, a noted historian, served on the Board of Trustees and as the rector of the University for 16 years. Each year, one student who has been recognized as the most academically outstanding receives the award and the responsibility of carrying the Mace at the front of the academic procession at the Commencement ceremony.
At the 2008 Commencement ceremony, Speicher led the procession as her fellow WILL member Trebicka did just four years prior. WILL, which stands for Women Involved in Living and Learning, is a program dedicated to coursework in women, gender and sexuality studies and leadership training for women students.
Speicher, who grew up in Queens, NY, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and will soon study women’s literature at Indiana University. She was a leader in the Multicultural Student Union and studied abroad in Bristol, England.
Trebicka, a native of Albania, graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree in an interdisciplinary major she created, “The Study of Inter-Ethnic Conflict: Theory and Culture.” During her undergraduate career, she studied in Kosovo, Greece and London.
A common thread between these two women is their membership in WILL. WILL requires all participants to take part in programs and take courses in the Women, Gender and Sexuality Studies curriculum. In addition, the members hone their leadership skills in the WILL student organization and have a supportive, diverse community of alumnae, professors and other Westhampton students.
“Being a part of WILL was the best decision I ever made,” Speicher said. You don’t study women’s issues in high school. In addition to meeting some of my closest friends through WILL, I’ve worked with some of the most brilliant women I’ve ever met.”