{"id":73678,"date":"2025-01-15T14:09:11","date_gmt":"2025-01-15T21:09:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/?p=73678"},"modified":"2025-01-15T14:09:11","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T21:09:11","slug":"gold-axe-awards2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/gold-axe-awards2025\/","title":{"rendered":"The Gold Axe application for the spring semester is open!"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Gold Axe Awards are a way of recognizing the participation of graduating seniors who are committed to excellence inside and outside the classrooms, at NAU, in the Flagstaff community and beyond.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

These awards were originated by the Associated Students of Northern Arizona University (ASNAU) and started with students\u2019 desire to recognize the efforts of their peers and their dedication to their community.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Who can apply?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/h3>\n

Any graduating senior can apply! The application is open until Friday, Feb. 14, at 5 p.m. Students can visit the <\/span>Gold Axe website<\/span><\/a> and fill out the form. It includes two essay questions and questions related to the student\u2019s involvement in clubs, activities, awards\/scholarships and volunteering. A recommendation letter must be submitted with the application.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Michelle\u202fGardner, <\/span><\/b>director of the Office of Leadership & Engagement, explained<\/span> that these awards are competitive and honor the best of the best.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cStudents are doing incredible things across the campus, but historically, and still to this day, the award has been about honoring those students whose service and involvement on campus and commitment to volunteering is not just improving but also contributing to campus life,\u201d she said.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The members of the selection committee review and score the hundreds of applications before selecting winners. \u201cWe make sure that we are selecting students who went above and beyond their journeys as students to make sure that they are not only having a great time at NAU but also serving the community and influencing others throughout their journey,\u201d said <\/span>Salvador Lopez<\/span><\/b>, assistant director of the Office of Leadership & Engagement.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Recipients of this award are not only exceptional leaders but have made revolutionary changes and contributions to the campus, either by creating programs and new events or by being part of groundbreaking research that requires a lot of volunteer hours.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cOne recipient years ago started Louie\u2019s Cupboard on campus, something that has withstood the last 10 plus years,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cShe won the Gold Axe for a variety of reasons but especially because she started a food pantry on campus that still exists today.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Gold Axe Awards ceremony takes place a few weeks before the Commencement Ceremony at the High Country Conference Center. The celebration also includes recognition of each awardee\u2019s educator of influence. The President\u2019s Prize is also awarded during the ceremony. Winners of this award are recommended by the Gold Axe Awards committee and selected by NAU President <\/span>Jos\u00e9 Luis Cruz Rivera.<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The Office of Leadership and Engagement manages the application process, leads the selection process and collaborates with University Events to plan the ceremony. They are supported by ASNAU and the alumni association.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSomething I love about the awards is that it honors the importance of being involved,\u201d Gardner said. \u201cWe honor the time and the contributions the students make because they don\u2019t have to go and be involved, they don\u2019t have to go do research, they don\u2019t have to go do the volunteering, but these are choices that they make, and I think it is valuable that we get to honor the way they spend their personal time outside the classroom.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Northern<\/a>Mariana Laas | NAU Communications
\nMariana.Laas@nau.edu<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Gold Axe Awards are a way of recognizing the participation of graduating seniors who are committed to excellence inside and outside the classrooms, at NAU, in the Flagstaff community and beyond.\u00a0\u00a0 These awards were originated by the Associated Students of Northern Arizona University (ASNAU) and started with students\u2019 desire to recognize the efforts of…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":100,"featured_media":73383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-73678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-campus-community"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/100"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=73678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/73383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=73678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=73678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/in.nau.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=73678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}