Every year an outstanding senior student from each Illinois four-year college or university is chosen for a prestigious award called the Lincoln Laureate. With that, each year Monmouth College chooses a senior believed to be the best candidate and representative of the College. This year, Kathryn (Kate) Fitzsimmons, a graduate of Williamsfield High School and a resident of Galesburg, Ill., was awarded the Lincoln Laureate.

In order to achieve the award, the candidate must exhibit overall excellence inside and outside the classroom and must be nominated by a faculty member of the campus. As Monmouth College’s 2007 candidate, Fitzsimmons exhibits excellence in several areas. As a political science major, she has accomplished a near perfect grade point average, and as a freshman was named the Freshman Female of the Year.

Throughout her academic career at Monmouth College, Fitzsimmons has been involved in the following activities: head resident, resident assistant, hall council advisor, English tutor, Scot Ambassador, a member of College Democrats, Alpha Lambda Delta and the Pre-Law Club. Fitzsimmons has also volunteered for many campus community causes like Up Till Dawn.

Michelle Merritt-Gilbert, assistant dean of students, notes, “Kate is an overall positive individual. She represents the Monmouth College student very well. Her personality is very charismatic and she has a very bright future ahead of her.”

Farhat Haq, professor and chair of the department of political science, was the faculty member to nominate Fitzsimmons. “I nominated Kate Fitzsimmons for this award because she demonstrates exemplary qualities of leadership, intellectual depth, empathy for her fellow human beings and, most of all, an ethic of hard work and discipline. She is a great model for our students and I am sure she will make a positive contribution in whatever field she chooses after graduating from Monmouth College,” said Haq.

Her overall bubbly and positive attitude, a quality which faculty have come to adore in Kate, has also garnered admiration from her fellow students. “Kate is a stand-up citizen and a great HR,” senior Nate McCaherty says of Fitzsimmons.

This Saturday, Oct. 27, Fitzsimmons will travel to Springfield to the Old State Capitol to receive a medallion of Lincoln, a certificate of merit and a small stipend as she becomes an official Lincoln Laureate. In anticipation of heading to Springfield on Saturday, Fitzsimmons remarks, “I feel honored to even be considered for such an award.”

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