Ethan Maddy and Kamryn Yanchick Honored as Outstanding Seniors

Sixteen students at the University of Oklahoma were recently honored as Outstanding Seniors for their achievements in scholarship, honors, awards, leadership and service. The college is proud to announce that this year we had the rare distinction of having the Overall Outstanding Senior for the university in addition to the Outstanding Senior in our college.

The awards are presented each fall by Sooner Parents, and the group was recognized at a ceremony during which OU President Joseph Harroz Jr. and representatives from OU colleges presented each recipient their award.

This year, Ethan Maddy (Oklahoma City) was named the Overall Outstanding Senior and Kamryn Yanchick (Edmond) was selected as the Outstanding Senior in the Dodge Family College of Arts and Sciences.

Maddy is pursuing a BA/MA in Economics and plans to attend graduate school to study health economics and public health. He is a leader on campus who addresses food insecurity in the Norman area and beyond, dedicating much of his time outside of the classroom to ensure everyone in the OU community has food on the table. Since his freshman year, Maddy has made an enormous impact through the OU Food Pantry, starting as a volunteer and now serving as director. With his help, the OU Food Pantry has expanded its facilities, created an online ordering system, and increased the overall number of individuals served as a result. He is also the founder and chair of the Big 12 Food Pantry Alliance, a collaboration that aims to improve the relationships and operations of the food pantries within the Big 12 Conference. Because of his dedication to serving the needs of his OU and Big 12 neighbors, he was a Harry S. Truman Scholarship Finalist and a recipient of the Economics Academic Excellence Award and the OU Campus Life Award.

Yanchick is a political science and Native American Studies major with a minor in pre-law.  She has dedicated her college career to advancing the rights of Indigenous students in Oklahoma and across the country. 

On campus, Yanchick has been a member of the American Indian Student Association, served on the Honors Student Diversity Council and is the president of Gamma Delta Pi. Her activities off-campus are centered around political activism and volunteering at different voting initiates for Native American Oklahomans. She successfully created a campaign addressing the issue of protecting Native students’ right to wear their cultural regalia and is currently working toward getting legislation allowing this. Her devoted work toward this cause has led her to receive the Melvin C. Hall Leadership/Scholarship Award and the Ewing Public Service Fellowship in 2021.