Photos of Miller and Truchan by Lee Pellegrini
University President William P. Leahy, S.J., presented Hariharan (Harry) Shanmugam of the Carroll School of Management with the Edward H. Finnegan, S.J., Award at Commencement Exercises on May 24. The award is given annually to the graduating senior who best exemplifies Boston College’s motto “Ever to Excel.”
Other finalists for the 2021 Finnegan Award:
Julie Miller
Julie Miller
Connell School of Nursing
Provided compassionate connections in her roles as a nursing assistant at Hebrew Senior Life, a rehabilitation and long-term care facility, and as a big sister in the BC chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters. She served as an Undergraduate Research Fellow working on a qualitative study on palliative care, on the Campus Activities Board, and as a volunteer at various Boston locations through the BC First Year Service Program.
Miller also participated in Appalachia Volunteers and performed volunteer service while studying abroad in Italy. She was selected for the Alpha Sigma Nu and Sigma Theta Tau honor societies.
Eva Ottum
Eva Ottum
Lynch School of Education and Human Development
Her studies, research, and service work reflect an interest in the intersection of biology, health, and education with a goal of working toward environmental justice.
A double major in secondary education and biology, she was an undergraduate researcher who contributed to a project examining the environmental impact of post-consumer textile waste. She also conducted research at Harvard and the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, where she served as a STEM ambassador. A member of the Montserrat executive board, Ottum participated in the Arrupe International Immersion trip to the Dominican Republic and Haiti, and volunteered as a teacher at a school in rural India.She plans to enter a doctoral program in chemical engineering at the University of California-Riverside.
Larissa Truchan
Larissa Truchan
Morrissey College of Arts and Sciences
A sociology major with a minor in philosophy, she has been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa and the Morrissey College Order of the Cross and Crown. Her academic and service work have centered on issues of social justice, human rights, and the law. She was the lead student for the Jamaica Magis Service Immersion trip and participated in the Magis Civil Rights Immersion trip and the PULSE service learning course. As a 4Boston volunteer, she was a teaching assistant and group leader at the Suffolk County House of Correction. On campus, Truchan was a member of anti-racism organization FACES and recognized with the Ever to Excel-Robert A. Sherwood Award.
She has been accepted to Harvard Law School, but will first enroll in the School for International Training’s master’s program on Humanitarian Assistance and Crisis Management, involving work in Jordan, Uganda, and the United Nations Refugee Agency in Switzerland.
University Communications | May 2021