Top Seniors Receive Charno

By: Daniel Barber/Muleskinner

Posted: 4/19/07

The walls of the Charno Room in the Union are lined with photographs of each accomplished Charno Award recipient of the past 67 years.

To receive the Charno award, which goes to the top male and female student of the graduating class, you must show a strong balance of leadership, good grades and involvement on campus and in the community.

For Anna Boone, senior biology major, and James Freese, senior flight operations management major, receiving the 2007 Charno Awards was a humbling experience which made them look back on their four years at Central as time well spent.
Four years after Boone and Freese became friends as freshmen, they were receiving their Charno Award Monday.

"I was pretty active in my four years here," said Freese, who serves as president of the Honors College Student Association. In 2005, Freese was named the United Student Housing Association's Member of the Year. He also volunteered with local community organizations Big Brothers/Big Sisters and the Warrensburg Lions Club Auction.

Freese said he was excited and honored to receive the award.
"The school has done so much for me in the last four years, and it's been a pleasure for me to give a little back," Freese said.
As a freshman, Freese said he was not involved much, but in his sophomore year he found that he liked staying busy.

"I was happy with a busy schedule and being involved on campus," Freese said. "Being on campus there are so many opportunities to get involved and I enjoyed it."

Freese said he plans to get his master's in Aviation Safety at UCM upon graduating.

Boone also matched Freese step for step with getting involved on campus. She was named the 2006 homecoming queen and served as president of the Panhellenic Executive Council. Also, Boone was a committee chair for Delta Zeta sorority and a national conference representative for Lambda Sigma Honor Society.

Her community involvement includes volunteering at the Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Johnson County, Survival Adult Abuse Center and the Missouri Veterans Home.

Boone said she was honored and flattered to receive the award, and it gave her a sense of accomplishment.

"It was a very humbling experience to receive the award and to see my parents in the audience," Boone said.

She said it was hard sometimes to deal with schoolwork and being involved on and off campus.

"I get really stressed sometimes, but when you finish a semester you realize what you overcame, and you can do it all over again," Boone said.

As she tells prospective students when she gives tours on campus, "getting involved is the best thing a student can do."
"It gave me a sense of belonging in the community, and it gives you something that you stand for and that you represent, and I think you make wiser choices because you know you're representing something."

After graduation, Boone plans to attend dental school at the University of Missouri-Kansas City.

Gretchen Reynolds, administrative assistant to the vice president of student affairs, took part in the selection process for the recipients of the Charno Award. Reynolds explained a rigorous point process in determining the top male and female students of this year's graduating class.

The selection committee based points on grades, leadership and involvement.

Reynolds said finalists did not get many points if there was not much diversity in their involvement.

"It's not just how much leadership and how much involvement, it's what type of leadership and what type of involvement," Reynolds said.

After looking at the various accomplishments of each of the seven Charno Award finalists, three men and four women, an interview with each candidate was used to determine the final selection.

"There is a real process, and it's a level-playing field as far as scoring goes," Reynolds said. "Often times, it really just comes down to tenths of a point among the finalists," she said.

"All of the Charno finalists are generally excellent students who got good grades and were involved in various activities around campus," Reynolds added.

The award was established in 1940 in honor of George Charno Sr., a Kansas City attorney, to recognize the most accomplished male of the graduating class. The award for best female was established the following year.