{"id":151945,"date":"2026-03-31T12:45:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T16:45:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/?p=151945"},"modified":"2026-04-06T17:49:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T21:49:27","slug":"founders-day-2026-student-awardees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ucf.edu\/news\/founders-day-2026-student-awardees\/","title":{"rendered":"UCF Celebrates Order of Pegasus, Student Awardees During Founders Day 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

UCF will honor 56 exceptional students at Founders\u2019 Day<\/a> on Wednesday for excellence in scholarship, leadership and service across various disciplines.<\/p>\n

Our students are groundbreaking national and global scholarship winners, researchers, athletes, teaching assistants, residence assistants and leaders in campus organizations, including Student Government, LEAD Scholars and the President\u2019s Leadership Council. The honorees include transfer students, those from first-generation and international backgrounds and members of the Burnett Honors College.<\/p>\n

Aside from focusing on academics and campus causes, many of the student honorees volunteered at hospitals, schools, parks, food banks, shelters, clinics, youth clubs and with many community service organizations \u2014 at times as organizers and coordinators for support drives and campaigns.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you look at this group, you see trajectory.\u201d \u2014 John Buckwalter, UCF’s provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cThe students we recognize at our Founders\u2019 Day Student Honors Celebration are extraordinary not just for what they\u2019ve achieved, but for how they\u2019ve shaped their time at UCF. They\u2019ve pursued opportunities, challenged themselves and lifted others along the way,\u201d says John Buckwalter, UCF’s provost and executive vice president for Academic Affairs. \u201cWhen you look at this group, you see trajectory \u2014 students whose experiences here are opening doors in meaningful ways and changing the direction of their futures, the trajectories of their families and the communities they inhabit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Student award categories highlight new inductees of the Order of Pegasus, UCF\u2019s highest student honor; graduate awards for outstanding master\u2019s thesis and outstanding dissertation; undergraduate awards for honors thesis; and individual college awardees as chosen by the respective college deans. All honorees earned financial awards.<\/p>\n

This year\u2019s 37 inductees into the Order of Pegasus mark the 25th<\/sup> anniversary class of top-achieving Knights. The average GPA of the 2026 class is 3.912.<\/p>\n

The campus community is invited to attend the Student Honors Celebration on Wednesday from 6:30 to 8 p.m. in the Student Union\u2019s Pegasus Ballroom. A brief reception will follow.<\/p>\n

Here are the students to be recognized.<\/p>\n

Order of Pegasus Inductees<\/h2>\n