The Northern Michigan University Board of Trustees recognized its annual Student Achievement Award recipients, all of whom hail from Michigan. Tessa Standerford of Negaunee and Landon Strzelewicz of Caro are the 2025 Outstanding Graduating Seniors. Recipients of the remaining outstanding awards in their respective categories are: Amy Holmes of Waterford Township, Global Campus Student; Jennifer Kreger, Pontiac, Nontraditional Student; Andie Belanger, Gladstone, Graduate Student; and Bryson Krieger, Portland, Student of Any Class.
Standerford will graduate May 3 with an environmental studies major with a water resources concentration, and a geographic information systems (GIS) certificate. Her campus involvement has included the Student Leader Fellowship Program; Team Sallie, which involved monitoring migration patterns of the blue-spotted salamander; and serving as a student facilitator for the NMU community visioning dinner during the development of NMU's Strategic Plan. As vice president and historian of Gamma Theta Upsilon, she helped to organize career and graduate school panels, host a USAJobs workshop, plan chapter meetings, and maintain records of chapter events. Standerford also was co-leader of the NMU Hoop House.
During the summer of 2024, Standerford worked for the Superior Watershed Partnership and Trout Unlimited as a part of the Stream Inventory Drone Team. She operated drones to collect aerial imagery of places where roads cross streams, producing data that helps to characterize the suitability of habitat for brook trout and other aquatic organisms. She tied that experience with her capstone research course, which will benefit the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Trout Unlimited, Superior Watershed Partnership, and stream ecosystems in the Great Lakes region. After graduation, Standerford plans to work for Trout Unlimited as an aquatic resources field technician. Her work will lead her across the UP as she aids with various brook trout conservation projects.
Strzelewicz will graduate with a double major in criminal justice and psychology, and a minor in deaf studies. He was a member of the NMU Honors Program and First Impressions, completed more than 1,000 Superior Edge hours, and held officer positions with PrimeTime Productions, the Marching Band, Pep Band and Cedar Hall Government. Strzelewicz was a member of the Criminal Justice Association, and served as a resident adviser for two years. He was also involved in the social psychology research lab, assisting in studies related to issues such as implicit racial bias and toxic masculinity.
As one of eight students selected to serve on the team for the NMU Cold Case Program, Strzelewicz researched an unsolved homicide from the Upper Peninsula, and his efforts helped to move the case forward by generating potentially actionable leads that State Police investigators will follow up on in the future. He was awarded a certificate of appreciation from the Michigan State Police in recognition of his outstanding efforts and unwavering dedication to the success of the program. He will continue as a dispatcher at the NMU Police Department, but plans to apply to the Michigan State Police in the near future.
Holmes is a third-grade teacher and Global Campus student in NMU's online Applied Workplace Leadership program. She has never set foot on campus, but has taken full advantage of the opportunity to connect with faculty and fellow students virtually. Holmes serves on three nonprofit organization boards. She is the president of both the local Middle School and Elementary School Parent Teacher Organization, and the secretary for the parent group that raises funds for children's sports and educational programs. She also co-leads a student leadership team at her school called Sparkle and Shine, which finds ways to help beautify their building from the inside out. Over the past eight years, Holmes has helped host school events such as Family Playground Nights, Talent Shows, Read-O Bingo, Fun Runs and Donuts with Grownups.
Through her experience with NMU, Holmes has learned how important it is to see, hear, consider and value everyone she meets so that she may foster a community of love, acceptance and support within the confines of her classroom. Deciding to return to college at nearly 40 years of age helped revive her love for education. She said she is grateful knowing that she is setting an example for her children, while also recognizing the sacrifices they make for her success. After graduation, Holmes plan to continue her role as a teacher and pursue opportunities in school administration.
Kreger, a nontraditional, first-generation college student, is also enrolled in the Applied Workplace Leadership program. After two family tragedies, she became a whole blood donor for decades, and started donating platelets in 2023. Kreger also serves as the Walton Charter Academy representative for the Pontiac Safe Routes to School Initiative, which is a partnership of the private, charter and public schools within the city. The goals include improvements in road signage, speed limits, crosswalks and lighting to provide safer routes for students to walk and ride their bikes to and from their schools. She plans to continue serving the students, families and staff of Walton Charter Academy, using skills and knowledge obtained at NMU to encourage her students to celebrate diversity, support their community, and pursue lifelong learning
After enrolling briefly in college on two separate occasions early on, Kreger re-engaged and achieved her goal of earning an associate degree in 2010. However, that wasn't the end of her educational journey. In 2023, she wrote in her vision journal that she had a goal of finishing her bachelor's degree, and soon information about NMU's Global Campus arrived in her work email. She saw that as a sign, and began classes the following semester. It took her 37 years to complete a bachelor's, but she never gave up, even studying alongside her daughter at NMU.
Belanger is also a first-generation student. She completed a master's degree in administration of outdoor recreation and nature-based tourism, studying the sustainability of ecotourism enterprises. Earning her undergraduate degree in political science during the pandemic was a lonely and isolating experience, Belanger said, but she found solace in the serenity of the natural landscapes that made Marquette feel like home. The land and Lake Superior compelled her to remain for her graduate degree. As she learned about the sacredness and cultural significance of many historic sites to Native American tribes, and continued to connect with her own Native American ancestry, her driving principal as a graduate student became clear: “How can we ethically recreate on stolen lands?”
Belanger served as a student representative on the City of Marquette's Shoreline Cultural Trail Project and volunteered as a research assistant for an ED500 course. She organized the following: an off-campus event for NMU students interested in attending the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community's Muh-NO-min Camp; an off-campus event with the Center for Native American Studies to discuss the epidemic of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Relatives; and a presentation on several chapters of the Common Reader book selection. Belanger was also selected as the School of Health and Human Performance's Outstanding Graduate. She will work as a crew leader for the Great Lakes Tribal Conservation Corps, gaining field experience in habitat restoration and conservation.
Krieger will graduate with a bachelor's degree in physics and a double minor in math and theater & entertainment arts. His wide-ranging campus involvement included serving as a D.J. on WUPX; being a member of the cast and crew for many NMU theater productions and leading tours for prospective theater students; and playing with the Symphonic Band and the Twisted Whiskers Pep Band. He was also a member of Northern Arts and Entertainment, Campus Cinema, and the Physics Club; an anchor and technician at Public Eye News; founder and meeting coordinator for the NMU Theatre and Dance Student Organization Coalition; and co-founder, vice president and president of the Carpet Hour Alliance.
Further demonstrating his leadership skills, Krieger took Alpha Psi Omega, a floundering theater-producing entity, and gave it a new identity focused on service, education and engagement. This led to the Upper Peninsula Day of Theatre, with workshops for students from NMU, LSSU and Michigan Tech taught by guest instructors from all three universities. As president, Krieger had the group reach out to help other student organizations. This included running concessions for the Theatre and Dance Department, and assisting the Economic Student Association in starting its own YouTube channel. After graduation, he plans to propel himself toward becoming a Disney Imagineer, starting as a character performer with the Disney College Program next year.