GSU Student Senate President Garners Prestigious Award

Justin Smith has done it again. The senior in the College of Business at Governors State University has received top honors as one of this year's Lincoln Laureates. The award is given by the Lincoln Academy of Illinois, a "a not-for-profit and nonpartisan organization [that] recognizes and honors ... notable citizens." 

On November 11, Smith will join the rest of this year's recipients—one senior from each of Illinois' four-year, accredited universities is selected each fall—for an award ceremony in Springfield. From the Lincoln Academy web site, student laureates "are honored for their leadership and service in the pursuit of the betterment of humanity and for overall excellence in curricular and co-curricular activities."

A dedicated student, an accomplished musician, and a fully engaged member of the Governors State campus community, Smith spends much of his time working with his fellow student senators to enrich and improve the GSU experience for his peers and future Jaguars.  

“The Lincoln Laureate award means a lot to me," Smith said. "When I found out I was the 2017 recipient, I was very honored. As an African-American male the 'odds' of society are not in my favor. I thank God for keeping me and making the way for me. I look at receiving this award not just as an accomplishment for me, but an accomplishment for my various communities that identify with me and an accomplishment for a people reaching to be the best them. I look at this honor as 'Reclaiming a people.' In a society that seems to have lost its way, and is known as lazy, this award rewrites the narrative.”