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Rising Star Awards

The Rising Star Award honors individuals and programs that exemplify excellence and dedication to serving the needs of students in the transition from high school to college.

This award encourages NACAC affiliates to look within their associations, identify and nurture those new members and programs that are deserving of this honor and also encourage the honorees to continue their professional development through membership in NACAC.

The Rising Star Awards are sponsored by SJG - The Spelman & Johnson Group.

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Congratulations 2017 Rising Star Award Winners!

About the winners:

(Two individuals and three program were honored.)  

• Lindsay Barbeau, admissions counselor at Marquette University (WI), has made an indelible mark on the Wisconsin Association for College Admission Counseling. After serving on the Conference Planning and New Counselor Institute committees, she became chair of the Membership Committee in early 2016. In that position, she cleaned up the affiliate’s rosters, developed a new system of contacting lapsed members, and helped create and implement a more robust and efficient membership renewal system. She currently serves as executive assistant on her affiliate’s board of directors.

• Meredith Norman, admissions counselor at Western Kentucky University, was instrumental in updating and improving the College Counseling Information Exchange (CCIE), a collaborative networking event offered annually by the Kentucky Association for College Admission Counseling (KYACAC). Norman also served on the Conference Planning Committee and helped coordinate the First-Timers Receptions at the 2015, 2016, and 2017 KYACAC conferences. In 2017, she chaired her affiliate’s Registration Committee, and currently serves as treasurer-elect on KYACAC’s executive board. In her various roles, Norman has shown that she is organized, level-headed under pressure, and willing to try new things.

• International ACAC’s Webinar Wednesdays connect a global village of like-minded professionals. Since the program launched two years ago, it has provided admission professionals with a virtual professional development session on the first Wednesday of every month. The program brings together an association of professionals that would otherwise rarely have the opportunity to see and learn from one another. Since its launch, the initiative has served 2,244 attendees from 67 different countries.

• Government relations efforts directed by the New York State Association for College Admission Counseling (NYSACAC) yielded tremendous results following a complete program reorganization. Under the leadership of NYSACAC board members Brian Culligan and Daryl Hornick-Becker, the affiliate increased its number of legislative advocacy participants from 36 in 2015 to 150 in 2017. The affiliate has also increased the number of Action Alerts created to help affiliate members reach out to legislators on issues of importance.   

• The Michigan Association for College Admission Counseling’s Women in Admissions program provides a place for female professionals to network and connect with one another. Forty women attended the one-day event in May. The professional development program seeks to increase the number of women who hold leadership roles in the college admission industry.

Past Award Winners

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