Student leader, environmental advocate Josh Cornell ’26 wins Maryville College’s Carl ’63 and Jean McDonald Outstanding Senior Award
April 15, 2026
The closer it gets to May 9, the more nostalgic Josh Cornell ’26 gets — but few things underscore the finality of his Maryville College journey like winning the 2026 Carl ’63 and Jean McDonald Outstanding Senior Award, the most prestigious honor given out at last week’s Celebration of Student Achievement.
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. 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 alum.
On the cusp of becoming that alumnus, Cornell found himself momentarily speechless when his name was called during the awards ceremony — a rare occurrence for someone known across campus for his thoughtful, articulate voice as an Environmental Studies and Political Science major and student leader serving as senior class president of the MC Student Government Association. (He was also elected class president as a freshman and served as SGA vice president during his sophomore and junior years.)
“I was in complete shock and didn’t really know how to react in the moment; it almost felt like everything went blank for a second,” said, a native of Chattanooga. “At the same time, I found myself thinking back on the past four years and everything that led up to that moment. It was overwhelming, but in the best way.”
Cornell arrived at MC with a clear academic path, never wavering from his original intent to use a political science degree to advocate for the environment. In addition to his academic success, he has emerged as a deeply engaged campus leader and student advocate, contributing to numerous organizations and taking on key leadership roles, as Dr. Mark O’Gorman, professor of political science and coordinator of the Environmental Studies major, noted during his introduction of Cornell at the ceremony.
“He has been a resident assistant (RA) for one of MC’s residence halls for one year,” O’Gorman said. “Josh has been one of MC’s Admissions Ambassadors, providing tours for prospective students and their families. He has been an academic mentor for our campus learning center. Any one of those MC jobs keeps one busy enough during the academic year. That Josh did many, if not all, of those jobs at the same time begins to convey the energy and commitment Josh has given to the garnet and orange.”
Cornell also enjoyed internships with local political campaigns and the Blount County Soil and Water Conservation District, was an active delegate of Maryville College at the Tennessee Intercollegiate State Legislature (TISL, where he spearheaded a bill to help Tennessee find ways to finance the reduction of greenhouse gases that will be introduced to the Tennessee General Assembly), and sang as a member of the Maryville College Concert Choir and its assembled small ensembles, the Lads and Off Kilter.
After graduation, O’Gorman noted, Cornell will enroll in the Master’s in Public Policy Program at the Howard Baker College of Public Policy at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.
“I really hope getting my master’s in public policy will lead me to become a policy analyst,” he said. “I really enjoy looking at policy and critiquing it to be more functional and better for everyday people, and I really hope that I can specifically make contributions like that to environmental policy.
“I had the chance to do a little bit of that work during my thesis, and I instantly fell in love with drafting and critiquing policy. In the future, I really want to get involved in state and local government and eventually work my way into local government. I had the chance to do some of that work during TISL, and I really enjoyed getting to advocate for change in Tennessee. I really hope to one day make progressive, beneficial changes for Tennesseans through local government.”
The additional trophies he took home at the ceremony underscore both his determination and his potential to make those changes. He was also named as a recipient of the Outstanding Student in Environmental Studies Award, given to the Scot who demonstrates outstanding work in the Environmental Studies major, has strong character, and a commitment to environmental sustainability. He was also named second-place winner of the Hall Ethical Thinking Contest, which recognizes a member of the senior class whose creative or practical essay on ethical thinking on a particular theme from a variety of perspectives, including historical, literary, theological, psychological and sociological analyses, could be published in a journal or magazine.
But it was the night’s biggest moment when his name was called as this year’s Outstanding Senior.
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.
The other nominees for the award included Annie Melhorn ’26, a Psychology major from Ten Mile, Tennessee; Chance Loveday ’26, a Mathematics major from Sevierville; Rukhshona Isomova, an International Studies and Finance/Accounting major from Uzbekistan; and Madison Smith ’26, a Psychology major from Sevierville.
“I’m incredibly proud of all of the nominees,” Cornell said. “Every single one of them has made a meaningful impact on campus and contributed something that will truly be missed. I’m grateful to call them my friends, and I’m really excited to see what they all go on to do next. I have no doubt they’ll continue making a positive impact wherever they end up.”
And chances are, he’ll think of them often, as fellow travelers through an institution that changed his life for the better, and to which he’ll always feel duty-bound to champion and uplift. As that nostalgia grows ever stronger, he can’t help but see all of the moments that have made his experience so meaningful every time he closes his eyes.
“Looking back now, this place means even more to me than I ever could have expected when I first arrived at Maryville College,” he said. “Specifically, I think I’ll miss the Maryville College community the most. It’s like a family, and I truly don’t think I’ll find another community like this. For the students who are still here, my biggest advice would be not to let yourself be defined by just one thing.
“Take advantage of everything this place has to offer, explore new interests, step outside your comfort zone, and give yourself the chance to grow in ways you might not expect. What makes Maryville so unique is how much people encourage you to try new things, so lean into that. You never know what might stick with you for the rest of your life.”
