Three students from Florida and one from New Jersey have won Stetson University’s highest honors for graduating seniors. Caitlin “Caity” Peterson of Ocala, Fla., earned the 2011 Etter McTeer Turner Award. Steven Carrillo of Plainfield, N.J., Marylin Winkle of Miami, Fla., and Lauren Torres of St. Cloud, Fla., each received a 2011 Sydney Algernon Sullivan Award.

Each year, Stetson honors a graduating senior with the Etter McTeer Turner Award, recognizing outstanding academic performance, leadership and community service. This award, which honors Stetson’s first woman dean of students, was established by the family of former Stetson President J. Ollie Edmunds.

Caity Peterson was described by her nominators as a student with an “unforgettable personality” who brings “a brilliant perspective” to the table. Her Ten-Gallon-Hat-sized spirit for the university began on the playing field – she was a soccer player for Stetson for four years and was Scholar Athlete of the Year in 2010. Beyond athletics, she became a world traveler with a deep passion for the environment and community outreach. She planted trees in Guatemala with Dr. Anne Hallum’s Alliance for Reforestation, researched the effects of global warming in Alaska, and studied ecology and Swahili in Nairobi, Kenya. An academically talented researcher and student, she was a “regular” in the Biology Lab and a student leader on many fronts – co-founding the Hatter Harvest Community Garden and serving on the Environmental Responsibility Council. A finalist for the prestigious Rhodes Scholarship and member of Phi Beta Kappa, she graduated from the Honors Program with a Bachelor of Science degree in biology with a minor in environmental science.

Stetson University’s top leadership honor for graduating seniors, the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, is presented each year to the man and woman in the graduating class whose personal example and influence throughout the campus best exemplify the noblest human qualities and the finest values that Stetson nurtures. The awards are given jointly by the Algernon Sydney Sullivan Foundation of New York and Stetson University. They recognize fine spiritual qualities, practically applied to daily living, with the hope that the awards will influence others to follow the paths taken by the honorees.

Steven Carrillo displayed a disciplined work ethic and a sincere passion in his work to help others at Stetson, whether through volunteering with NightCap, which provides a safe, fun hang-out on weekend nights for Stetson students, or serving on the board for Stetson’s CAUSE program—the Campaign for Adolescent and University Student Empowerment—in the Spring Hill Boys and Girls Club. When he created a new, original service organization in La Plaza Comunitaria in Pierson, called SUPER KIDS, his creativity and true commitment became a beacon of light to the underprivileged children of the migrant farm workers he was working with, his nominators said. With a major in psychology and a minor in marketing, he really connected with the young children, turning them all into super heroes.

This year, there was a tie among the women award recipients. Marylin Winkle has combined passions for social justice, service and academic excellence—in music, specifically, her nominators said. As an incoming freshman at Stetson, she fully embraced the Bonner Scholars program, which helped her define her personal commitment to a more just society—by connecting a student’s service passions to their academic interests. She taught cello and other string instruments free of charge to kids in the Volusia County School System. At Stetson she worked tirelessly to raise the level of awareness about the genocide happening abroad through her leadership role in STAND and has also mentored other student organization leaders to help them achieve their own individual successes in service to others. She graduated with a Bachelor of Music in cello performance and a minor in English.

Lauren Torres had a powerful commitment to issues of diversity, social justice and community engagement at Stetson, particularly in her leadership role in the Student Coalition to End Homelessness. In her work as a Bonner student with DeLand’s Neighborhood Center, she spearheaded an initiative to help improve and broaden the site and the services they offer to the homeless. Graduating with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree with a major in accounting and a minor in economics, she combined her academic knowledge with her passion for serving the marginalized in the community and worked with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program. Her goal was to “bridge the gap of knowledge” within the homeless community, thereby breaking the cycle of poverty in their lives.