Ivy Tech’s Kokomo Service Area recognizes student achievement in 2025 awards ceremonies
Last Updated on May 7, 2025 by Cass County Communication Network
KOKOMO, Ind. — Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo is honoring students who have demonstrated outstanding academic achievement and leadership during awards ceremonies for the Class of 2025. They will also be recognized during commencement ceremonies scheduled for May 9.
Joshua Willits, who is completing an Associate of Applied Science degree in Industrial Technology, has been awarded the Chancellor’s Award for Academic Excellence as the outstanding scholar in the graduating class. It’s an accomplishment that caps years of challenges and change for the Kokomo native.
A 2002 graduate of Northwestern High School, Josh had been working at Subaru in Lafayette for seven years when he first came to Ivy Tech. That ended after one semester when he had the opportunity to join Chrysler (now Stellantis) as a production worker. He returned in January 2023, honoring promises made to his grandfather and stepfather before they died in 2022. His grandfather had been an electrician at Chrysler for 35 years, his stepdad a toolmaker at GM for 30. Josh should strive for more, they said.
Josh, who says he struggled with ADHD with little support as a child, found what he was looking for in the Industrial Technology program at Ivy Tech where instructors with decades of experience in the manufacturing industry generously offered tutoring and mentoring. He says classes and counseling with the coordinator of Ivy Tech’s Student Leadership Program brought him out of his shell and into leadership positions on campus.
Earning a GPA that exceeds 3.75 on a 4.0 scale, Josh was supported by an Eli Lilly Award Scholarship and honored with membership in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. He completed Ivy Tech’s Student Leadership Academy and has served as president and treasurer of the Kokomo chapter of National Society of Leadership and Success and vice president of the Student Government Association. This semester he’s also started classes toward a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at Purdue Polytechnic Institute, all while continuing to work full-time at Stellantis.
Josh credits his wife, Faith, for supporting his dream. A proud first-generation college graduate, he hopes his efforts will serve as a good example to his children ages 21, 19 (a student at Ivy Tech in Lafayette), and 5.
The Chancellor’s Award winner is selected from the list of Dean’s Award honor students who were named the outstanding student by the faculty chair for each program. Recipients of the Dean’s Award for 2025 are:
Accounting
Jaci Smolek, Idaville
Agriculture
Edgar Aguilar-Mendez, Twelve Mile
Biology TSAP
Daphne Genestant, Kokomo
Business Administration
Molly Lovelace, Kokomo
Dental Assisting
Macie McCord, Noblesville
Early Childhood Education
Shae Barker, Sheridan
Elementary Education
Maureen Beckwith, Kokomo
General Studies
Audrey Arven, Rochester
Human Services
Savannah Ingle, Kokomo
Industrial Technology
Joshua Willits, Kokomo
Information Technology Support
Luke Brahm, Kokomo
Liberal Arts
Mary Rose Dixon, Kokomo
Nursing
Maria Mendoza Pasos, Greentown
Practical Nursing
Tamera Morris, Kokomo
Professional Communication
Ashley Smith, Fishers
Psychology
Bryana Slisher, Kokomo
Surgical Technology
Natalie Smith, Winamac
Visual Communications
Sylvia Williams, Frankton
Other honors to be recognized at Ivy Tech Kokomo’s May 9 commencement ceremonies include:
Military Veterans Honors: Zachariah D. Crabtree, Jamie T. Dausch, Ricky James Howe, Jessica Lynn Ice-Rayburn, Alicia James, Corrie N. Jarvis, Caleb M. Koors, James L. Lawson, Mark McNew, Anthony Seda, Corey E. Summers, Naomi Evelyn Weick, James Young, Arieon Kaylyn Burns, and Edgar Rodriguez Sanchez.
Senior graduates of the Ivy Tech Community College Student Leadership Academy: Gabriella K. Furlow, Karlie Atkinson, and Lindsay Landis.
Students named to the National Society of Leadership and Success: Andrew John Skinner, Angela Jane Vest, Cassandra J. Kinzie, Joshua Alain Willits, Katherine Davis, Macey A. Ingle Fisher, and Samantha N. Irwin.
SOURCE: News release from Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Service Area