Two Students Named This Year’s Top Graduates at UW

Ty McNamee and Amanda King are named this year's Top Graduating Man and Woman respectively at the University of Wyoming.

According to the University of Wyoming, the annual award is based on academic achievement and excellence, service to the university, participation and leadership in the community and campus activities.

McNamee is the 2013 winner of the Tobin Memorial Award as the University of Wyoming's outstanding graduating man. The Shoshoni High School graduate is set to graduate in May with a degree in English and in the honors program with a 3.6 GPA.

“Ty is a mature and thoughtful UW student. As he moves on to graduate school in Student Affairs, I know for a fact that he’ll continue to develop his formidable talents for the benefit of the students who have the good fortune to work with him in the future,” says Mary Aguayo, UW Admissions assistant director.

Aside from his 3.6 GPA in the classroom, according to the UW release, McNamee does so much outside the classroom. This year's Tobin Memorial Award winner is the Vice President of the Associated Students of UW, orientation leader, and now currently works as the student ambassador in the UW admissions office as the alumni student engagement intern.

According to the UW release, McNamee has volunteered his time at various locations including SafeTreat and the Laramie Children's Harvest Festival, Better Worlds Book Drive, playground renovations, and bringing holiday spirit to the Laramie Senior Housing residents through Christmas carols and ornaments.

Amanda King is the 2013 winner of the Rosemarie Martha Spitaleri Award as the University of Wyoming's outstanding graduating women. King will graduate in May with a degree in international studies specializing in the Middle East and Africa.

The Riverton native owns a 3.8 GPA and has an Honors Program endorsement. All her accomplishments as an outstanding all culminated in her winning the 2012 UW Internationalization Award and the Critical Languages Scholarship. On the campus of UW, King has applied herself in globally focused activities on campus such as her involvement as leader of the Model United Nations as well as her international outreach efforts to assist Kenya, Guatemala, and Honduras. King has spent a summer in Morocco working on her Arabic which was part of her international scholarship.

"Put simply, Amanda is the kind of truly exceptional student who will most certainly go on to do incredible things and bring great pride to the University of Wyoming,” says Nevin Aiken, UW Department of Political Science and Global and Area Studies assistant professor. “It takes a great strength of character and a very special undergraduate student to be able to combine this level of achievement in leadership with a record of academic excellence.”