Laura Reed named Carl ’63 & Jean McDonald Outstanding Senior at Maryville College
April 8, 2024
Laura Reed, a senior Art major from Knoxville, Tennessee, has been named the 2024 Carl ’63 & Jean McDonald Outstanding Senior at Maryville College.
Known as the Alumni Association-sponsored “Outstanding Senior Award” from 1974 until 2021, the award was renamed in 2022 to honor MC alumnus Carl McDonald ’63 and his late wife, Jean, who funded it for nearly 30 years before establishing an endowment for it. It is one of the College’s most prestigious awards, presented this year at a Celebration of Student Achievement ceremony held Friday, April 5, in the Ronald and Lynda Nutt Theatre of the Clayton Center for the Arts.
The award recognizes a senior who has been active in a broad range of activities; who most exemplifies the “ideal” Maryville College graduate; and who has the potential to be an outstanding alumnus. According to Dr. Carl Gombert, professor of Art at the College and Reed’s advisor, she meets all of those criteria and then some.
“Laura Reed is a candidate for the Outstanding Senior Award, and I am not surprised,” Gombert told the audience of faculty, staff, other students and family members – including Reed’s parents, Liz and Michael Gentile, as well as her husband, James, and their 4-year-old daughter, Auburn.
“I met her two years ago when she arrived as a transfer student who happened to be both a veteran and an Art major,” Gombert continued. “At the time, the (Military Student Center) was seeking a mural for its student lounge. I offered the project to Laura, and approximately 20 minutes later, she had researched, designed, printed and installed a fantastic mural. Okay, maybe a week or two, but still impressive.”
Reed’s background as a member of one of the U.S. Naval Construction Battalions – popularly known as “Seabees” – was the ideal preparation for her Maryville College experience, added Gombert. The Seabees “Can Do!” motto, he pointed out, is one she took to heart and applied to her endeavors as a Scot.
“At MC, Laura has held leadership positions in the Student Veterans Association, been elected to the Student Government Association, and worked in the Admissions Office as an Ambassador with an emphasis on veteran and other contemporary students,” he said. “She created a program to recognize student veterans at football games, she collaborated on the development of a Women’s Veteran Panel, and her almost finished Senior Study involves the creation of practical marketing materials aimed at contemporary students. All this is done while she and her husband raise their 4-year-old daughter.”
Raised in a military family, Reed spent the first 10 years of her life in Norfolk, Virginia, before moving to Washington State, joining the Navy in 2012. At Maryville College, she’s a former diversity representative in SGA and currently serves as one of the commuter representatives. She’s the president of the Student Veterans Association, will graduate in May with minors in both Design and Marketing, and her Senior Study – a core component of the MC experience – draws on her personal experience as a contemporary, or non-traditional, student, as well as her background in photography. Once completed, the project will provide the MC Office of Admissions with an additional tool for the recruitment of other contemporary students, Reed explained.
The Outstanding Senior Award wasn’t the only honor Reed claimed at the April 5 celebration: She was also named Ambassador of the Year by the Admissions office in recognition of an “exceptional job of representing the College in a positive and professional manner” as an Ambassador, as well as one of three recipients of the Clark Family Prize, which recognizes rising juniors or seniors in art who have demonstrated outstanding academic and artistic achievement.
After graduation, Reed plans to enroll in the MBA program at the University of Auburn and continue her involvement with Maryville College, she said.
Only those seniors with a minimum grade point average of 3.0 are considered for nomination for the Carl ’63 & Jean McDonald Outstanding Senior Award. A committee that includes student, faculty and staff representation is given the responsibility of choosing five finalists. Those finalists are invited to respond in writing to questions about their views of their future roles as alumni of Maryville College, their goals for their own futures, and their understanding of how the College has influenced them and helped shape those goals.
Other finalists for the award included Grace Brandl, a Music major from Collierville, Tennessee; Savannah Mahery, a Psychology major from Sweetwater, Tennessee; Ryne Simmerly, a Music Education (vocal) with teacher licensure major from Winter Garden, Florida; and Carmela Lewis, a Biology major from Maryville.
