HAYS – Nominees for three top commencement awards have been announced by the Fort Hays State University Alumni Association. 

Twenty-one graduating seniors have been nominated for the 2022 Torch Award, the highest student honor, and 28 faculty members were nominated by members of the class of 2022 for the Pilot Award for an outstanding faculty member. 

Eleven graduate students from the 2021-22 academic year (Fall 2021 and Spring 2022) were nominated for the Lighthouse Award to honor an outstanding student completing graduate studies. 

The recipients of each award will be announced at a reception at 9 a.m. Tuesday, May 3, in the Memorial Union Sunset Atrium. The announcement will be live streamed for those not able to attend in person. Live-stream details will be posted on the FHSU Alumni Association Facebook page at www.Facebook.com/FHSUalumni. 

The Torch and Pilot Awards, created in 1974, and the Lighthouse Award, created in 2018, are presented annually during the spring semester. 

Torch Award and Lighthouse Award candidates are nominated by FHSU faculty and staff on the basis of classroom excellence, leadership, participation in professional organizations, and involvement in student, civic, or research activities. 

Pilot Award candidates are nominated by members of the graduating class on the basis of classroom excellence, ongoing research, and service activities. 

Local student nominated for the Torch Award was Molli Banks, art history major, from Great Bend.