REACH Accolades

Sydney Badon, a junior PAL leader from Louisville, is the recipient of the 2024 UCB Family Epilepsy Scholarship and the 2024 L&N Frank H. Moore Scholarship. She was also recognized as a Featured Buddy Pair for the Best Buddies Kentucky Champion of the Year Gala. Sydney plans to complete her undergraduate degree and hopes to be accepted into medical school.

Kincaid Bellinger, a REACH graduate assistant in the Math Resource Center and Emporium Math Lab from Louisville, earned Dean's List honors in the fall of 2024 and expects to this spring as well. He has been accepted into the JET Program which will take him to Japan this August to teach English in their schools for a year. He started the application back in the fall and says, "I’m so grateful to REACH for giving me the teaching experience that helped make this possible."

Bryn Connelly, a junior LRC tutor from Crestview Hills, Kentucky, made the Dean's List in the fall semester and was inducted into Mortar Board and Sigma Pi Sigma Physics honor society. Next year, she will finish up her bachelor's degree and start a new position as SAB OWL Chair.

Camille Davis, a senior EML tutor from Louisville, served as the Media Chair for the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) at UofL during the 2024–2025 academic year, a year marked by record student participation and new member growth. Camille was named an “Outstanding Speaker” at the ASCE competition, where the team earned 14 awards. She was also a finalist for the Kentucky Derby Princess Program and received the LECGI Scholarship Award from the Civil Engineering department. After graduation, Camille will begin her master’s in Civil Engineering with a structural focus and work as a REACH Graduate Student Assistant. She plans to spend the summer backpacking through Europe.

Jordan Finley, a junior LRC tutor from Omaha, Nebraska, will be studying abroad in Japan this summer and received a scholarship from the Modern Language Fund to help pay for their travels. They will also apply for the Boren Scholarship, finish up their final year, take a gap year, and then enter pharmacy school.

Ryan Forcht, a senior SLA Peer Mentor from Buckner, Kentucky, completed the Baptist Health LaGrange Pre-Med Academy in Summer 2024 and was recognized as a Dean's Scholar in Fall 2024 after earning all As in 19 credit hours. Ryan graduated high school early (December 2022) and is on track to graduate from UofL in Spring 2025 with a bachelor's degree in Neuroscience after just five semesters. He plans to take a gap year and will begin applying to medical schools, including UofL and the University of Kentucky, in May 2025, with the goal of starting medical school in Fall 2026.

Victoria Harris, a REACH graduate assistant in the Math Resource Center and Emporium Math Lab from Louisville, published two academic papers, competed in an international engineering pitch competition, and will now seek full-time employment.

Johnny Hebron, a senior SLA from Louisville, completed a Public Health internship at the University of Michigan during the summer and studied abroad at the University of Tuscia in Viterbo, Italy, in the fall. He will begin attending the University of Louisville Dental School in the upcoming fall semester. He says, "Working at REACH for the past couple of years has been a really great experience and I will miss it after I graduate."

Addison Hoskins, a junior PAL leader from Cynthiana, Kentucky, has been accepted into the Accelerated Masters in Public Health program at UofL and will begin taking graduate classes in the fall as she completes her bachelor's degree. She has an internship with the Kentucky Department of Behavioral, Developmental, and Intellectual Disabilities this summer to combine her public health knowledge and American Sign Language skills.

Dominic LaDuke, a senior PAL leader from New Albany, Indiana, participated in the Here and Beyond campaign, where he was interviewed about his summer research through the Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP). He will begin his M.S. in Atmospheric Sciences at the University of North Dakota, where he will serve as a Graduate Research Assistant.

Alexander Lain, an senior CRC tutor from Panama City, Panama, was invited to be a member of the Pallas Chapter of the Mortar Board Honor Society and will be seeking employment after graduation

Vy Pham, a junior MRC and EML tutor from Louisville, served as the Speed School Student Council President for the 2024-25 year and was recently elected to the National Association of Engineering Student Councils as the Vice President of Conferences. This summer, she will return to Savannah, GA for her third co-op rotation with Gulfstream Aerospace and then return to campus in the fall to finish up the final year of her undergraduate degree.

Kaitlyn Piekarczyk, a senior SLA from Momence, Illinois, received the Chemical Engineering Outstanding Undergraduate award and will be employed at C&I Engineering in Louisville.

Allison Portaro, a senior LRC tutor from Louisville, successfully defended her A&S senior thesis, qualifying her to graduate with highest distinction from the College of Arts and Sciences. She will graduate from the UofL Honors Program as an Honors Scholar and next attend the University of Notre Dame to pursue a Ph.D. in Chemistry, where she has been awarded the Richard and Peggy Notebaert Premier Fellowship. She says, "I have loved tutoring chemistry in the LRC for the past two years!"

Saketh Sangaraju, a senior CRC tutor from Louisville, was co-director of Derby City Dhoom, which won the Outstanding New Program of the Year UofL student award. Saketh also placed second in the Engineering Design and Innovation Showcase for Computer Science (Speed School capstone project). Next, he will pursue his master's in Computer Science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Monica Schwender, a senior SLA from Bowling Green, Kentucky, has been accepted into UofL's medical school.

Madison Sherouse, a senior SLA from Liberty, Kentucky, will attend the University of Minnesota as a PhD. student in physics. She says, "Being accepted into a Ph.D. program as a first-generation student has been the most fulfilling experience."

Izzy Sims, a junior LRC tutor from Cynthiana, Kentucky, serves as an executive board member for both the Spanish Club and Disabled Cards United. Izzy has received study abroad scholarships through the Department of Modern Languages and plans to study abroad in Costa Rica in the summer of 2025.

Hayden Skaggs, a junior PAL leader from Louisville, had his research on cystic fibrosis lung bacteria published in the Journal of Bacteriology. His next semester will be his last as an undergraduate and after graduation, he plans to pursue medical school, hopefully here at UofL. He says, "Working as a PAL for Biology 242 has been one of my favorite experiences at UofL so far!"