A decade of impact through the Honors Giving Back Awards

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Image of MSU Honors College students, staff, Provost McIntyre, and Trustee Bahar-Cook at the 2026 Giving Back Awards. The front row is sitting on couches and chairs, while the back row is standing. Three large checks are being held in the air. Everyone is smiling in business attire.

By Chiara Palomera Perez and Melanie Brender

A decade-long Honors College event brought many firsts this year.

The 10th annual Honors Giving Back Awards recognized eight student finalists for their outstanding community-engaged work. For the first time, the awards ceremony was held in the newly renovated Campbell Hall, home of the Honors College’s inaugural living-learning community. Two new guests were in attendance – Trustee Rebecca Bahar-Cook and Provost Laura Lee McIntyre, Ph.D.

“I am passionate about the work that our students are doing, because it reminds me that we are optimistic about our future,” McIntyre said. “What our students are doing and giving back to the community, and being very engaged citizens, it really gives me hope for a better tomorrow.”

Honors College alumna Sarah Dolan, chief financial officer of the Michigan State University Federal Credit Union and a longtime supporter of the event, also came to celebrate students’ work. Dolan served on a panel of judges that selected the awardees.

Earning an Honors Giving Back Award

To apply for the Honors Giving Back Awards, Honors College students submitted short visual presentations about their community engagement at MSU. The awards ceremony premiered these visual presentations and students had two minutes each to answer audience questions.

Submissions included projects such as: empowering students through art, tackling housing insecurity, detecting breast cancer in underserved communities, and addressing discomfort and bias in sexual and mental health.

“I want others to learn that wherever they are, no matter their level of expertise, when they put in their efforts and they look at society to find where there’s an issue, they can be the solution to that problem,” said Benjamin Nketsiah, a third-year Honors student majoring in biochemistry and molecular biology who earned first place.

Nketsiah founded She’s Strong, a nonprofit using artificial intelligence to transform triple-negative breast cancer detection and care for women of West African ancestry.

“Personally, I’m a West African and so this project is sort of my service to them,” Nketsiah said.

He said winning the Honors Giving Back Awards would allow him “to begin building an endowment fund that helps subsidized mammogram screenings for women who cannot afford them, because early detection should not depend on financial access.”

Second prize winner Marcos Garcia, a third-year Honors student studying English and sociology, explained what his housing insecurity work with co-presenter Sumaiya Imad meant to him.

“I’m now getting funding for people who are facing housing insecurity and I’m advocating for people who are renting that don’t think there’s anyone in their corner,” Garcia said. “It feels like I’m doing something for the community that I wish was done for me. And it’s a great feeling.”

After presentations and the judges’ deliberations, Honors College Dean Glenn Chambers announced the award winners, applauding them for “living the land grant mission of Michigan State University.”

First Prize ($1,000)

Benjamin Nketsiah

  • Project: She’s Strong: Using Digital AI to Transform Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Detection and Care for West African Women
  • Year: Third-year student
  • Major: Biochemistry and molecular biology
  • Colleges: Honors College, College of Natural Science

Second Prize ($750)

Marcos Garcia and Sumaiya Imad

Third Prize ($500)

Eleazar Asase

  • Project: Nutata Network
  • Year: Third-year student
  • Major: Mechanical engineering
  • College: College of Engineering

Honorable Mentions ($250 each)

Jai Kozar-Lewis

  • Project: My Community Engagement Journey at MSU
  • Year: Fourth-year student
  • Major: Supply chain management
  • College: Honors College, Eli Broad College of Business

Allison Doneth

  • Project: Engaging Fully in Multicultural Community-Based Engagement
  • Year: Fourth-year student
  • Majors: Neuroscience, French
  • College: Honors College, Lyman Briggs College, College of Arts and Letters

Trinity Amalraj

  • Project: Role of Discomfort in Service and Advocacy
  • Year: Third-year student
  • Major: Biology
  • College: Lyman Briggs College

Chaeli Rubley

  • Project: Giving Back to the Community that Gave to Me
  • Year: Fourth-year student
  • Major: Nursing
  • College: College of Nursing

Student Choice ($250)

Marcos Garcia and Sumaiya Imad

  • Project: Housing Insecurity Work with the Tenant Resource Center of Mid-Michigan
  • Marcos Garcia
    • Year: Third-year student
    • Major: English, sociology
    • Colleges: Honors College, College of Arts and Letters, College of Social Science
  • Sumaiya Imad
    • Year: Third-year student
    • Major: Economics
    • College: College of Social Science

The full photo album from the 2026 Honors Giving Back Awards can be viewed on the Honors College Flickr account and the video recap is available on YouTube.

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