By Eva Costa, Staff Writer
Many creative presentations organized by the students at Saint Leo University took place on April 2, known as “Academic Excellence Day.” This is an annual event to present their research through projects that are evaluated by faculty members and the Presidential Department of Saint Leo.
The academic projects consisted of posters, artistic talents, oral presentations, and performances. Students presented in Kirk Hall, TECO Hall in Tapia College of Business, and the Fine Arts building from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.
“This event helps a lot of students to show what they were doing from their past couple years, such as studies and works, to their teachers and the whole student body of the university,” said Kristina Berdecia, a junior majoring in Clinical and Counseling Psychology.
Berdecia was one of the students making oral presentations with a poster on the theme of “The Impact of Loneliness in College Students”. The most important thing for her was to participate in the event, which she found exciting.
“I’ve been involved in this event for many years, and I am monitoring the poster section. So I help to organize that, and I’m involved in the community by giving an award out later this afternoon,” said Dr. Tammy Zacchilli, professor of psychology.
Dr. Zacchilli also affirms that the reason she decides to participate every year in the event is that she really enjoys seeing students present their research and projects that they’ve been working on, sometimes for over a year.
“I’m not directly involved in this particular year in the Academic Excellence Day, but I have my students coming here to evaluate other students’ posters and learn about the scholarship that many of our students have or can earn”, affirms the associate professor of psychology, Dr. Antonio Laverghetta.
Laverghetta then concludes that he is also so proud of the Saint Leo students because they gained excellent scholarships through this event.
When the presentations came to an end, the awards ceremony started in the Greenfelder-Denlinger Boardrooms at the Student Community Center (SCC) from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m.
The ceremony recognized and supported the students. They honored the highest academic excellence students of each of the four Saint Leo Colleges (Tapia College of Business, College of Arts, Science, and Allied Services, College of Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Robotics, and Data Science, and College of Health Professions), the student organization with the highest GPA and the 2026 Clara McDonald Olson Scholastic Award, got the biggest award of Academic Excellence Day. There were numerous students who got an award at the end of the day. Academic Excellence Day was full of celebrations, learning, and earnings.
