View photos of award winners at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/valdostastate/sets/72157626535444913/

VALDOSTA -- Valdosta State University honored it best and brightest at the annual Academic Honors and Awards Dinner Thursday, May 5, in the University Center’s Cypress Room.

Meagan Michelle Wood took home the university’s top honors as the recipient of the Annie Powe Hopper award. Named for the institution’s first dean of women, the award is presented annually to a senior who represents the highest values of the university, including character and community service, and who has reached the highest levels of individual academic achievement.

Graduating summa cum laude with a degree in psychology, Wood also received the Sigma Alpha Chi Honor Society’s Marga Award, which is presented to a female graduating senior who has demonstrated academic superiority; and the American Association of University Women Award.

The Thomasville, Ga., native has received numerous awards and honors including the William Bartram Award for Intellectual Exploration and the Best Poster in Humanities and Social Sciences at the 2010 Undergraduate Research. She is a member of Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities, Alpha Lambda Delta, Sigma Alpha Chi, Phi Kappa Phi, and the VSU Honors Program.

Wood plans to attend graduate school at the University of Alabama and study experimental and cognitive psychology.

Matthew Schmidt received the Sigma Alpha Chi Honor Society’s Mac Award, which is presented to a male graduating student who has demonstrated academic superiority.

The Blairsville, Ga., native has served as president of the Honors Student Association and associate chief justice of the Student Government Association Judicial Board. He is a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity and the Society of Physics Students.

Graduating magna cum laude with a degree in physics, Schmidt has received the William Bartram Award for Intellectual Exploration, the Hugh C. Bailey Scholarship and the Claire Philips Martin Scholarship for academic achievement.

Schmidt plans to attend graduate school at Duke University and study to become a medical physicist.

Additional students honored for their academic achievements include:

J. Blake Lane, Outstanding College of the Arts Award
Katherine Wagnon, Bartram Award for Intellectual Exploration presented by the University Honors Program and the Clare Philips Martin Scholarship
Jaimie Lynn Squardo, Outstanding Student in Arts and Science
Gabriele Costa, Outstanding Langdale College of Business Administration Senior Award
Alyssa Jacobson, Dewar College of Education Highest Academic Achievement Award
Niderah Middleton, Outstanding Senior Nursing Student Award
Virginia Feher, George Gaumond Award presented by the Master of Library and Information Science
Ira Collier, Most Outstanding AS300 Cadet presented by VSU’s Air Force ROTC
Otto Lenhart, Outstanding Male Student Academic Athlete of the Year
Stephanie Boulware, Outstanding Female Academic Athlete of the Year
Keri Long, University System of Georgia Academic Recognition Day Award
Maheera Farsi, Alpha Lambda Delta Marie Leonard Book Award