Meet: Robing Emmons
April 17, 2024
English major Taylor Daum and Ph.D. student Saddiq Dzukogi are among the 10 University of Nebraska-Lincoln students who recieved Student Luminary Awards to recognize their exceptional leadership and commitment to improving the campus and community.
The awards were announced during a reception at Howard L. Hawks Hall on April 1. The awards recognize students who create a positive campus environment, advocate for change, demonstrate a significant and active commitment to inclusion and model academic excellence inside and outside the classroom.
Each student was nominated by a faculty or staff member on campus and received $1,000.
Saddiq Dzukogi
Dzukogi, a doctoral student in English from Lincoln was honored as a Student Luminary for his personal commitments to creating a positive campus environment and actions toward making every person feel valued. While pursuing his own education and raising three young children, he mentors international students, serves as a compassionate undergraduate instructor, coaches high school poets and works with incarcerated community members.
“He has managed, in all of [his] struggles, to establish himself as a brilliant scholar, a hugely successful poet, a community-engaged teacher, a skillful, compassionate instructor to our undergraduates, and a mentor to local youth, other international students and incarcerated individuals,” Stacey Waite, nominator, said.
Taylor Daum
Daum, a junior English major from Emerson, Neb., was honored as a Student Luminary for her positive influence on campus and campus involvement as a resident assistant, orientation leader and First Husker peer mentor, and her commitment to improving the campus through participation in the Executive Vice Chancellor’s Student Advisory Board. She had the unique opportunity of leading a group of students who worked to support students as they tested positive for COVID-19 this past spring.
“I can think of nobody who has single-handedly impacted as many lives directly as Taylor has,” Jordan Foreman-Black, nominator, said. “She exemplifies a commitment to helping others and ensuring they feel connected and engaged with the community.
