Destiny Johnson Named McKendree University’s 2024-2025 Student Laureate

(LEBANON, Ill., Oct. 29, 2024) – Destiny Johnson, a senior from Maryville, Ill., was recently named this year’s recipient of the Abraham Lincoln Civic Engagement Award and Student Laureate of the Lincoln Academy of Illinois. This is the state’s highest student honor for leadership, service and excellence in curricular and extracurricular activities, and it is awarded to a noteworthy senior from each college and university. Johnson and other top students in the state were honored with this award by The Lincoln Academy of Illinois on Saturday, Oct. 26 in Springfield, Ill.

Johnson is a chemistry and mathematics major and a member of the university’s Honors Program. She has won the competitive American Chemical Society Outstanding Junior Chemistry Award in 2023 and the GLVC Brother James Gaffney Distinguished Scholar Award in 2022. Recommenders describe her as having “a superior level of competence” that leaves “no doubt as to the level of her talent and maturity.”

Johnson’s senior chemistry research project on microplastics took her advisor, Dr. Vince Dunlap, by surprise as she began formulating her ideas from journal articles that she had already studied without guidance. Her drive has also led her to an internship with Jost Chemical Specialty Chemical Manufacturer in Bel-Ridge, Mo. – an internship which she herself created.

“Destiny is well-organized and an excellent independent worker,” said Dr. Dunlap, who is an associate professor of chemistry at McKendree University. “She goes to the lab during the summer, over the winter, and during spring breaks to work on her research.”

Johnson also excels outside of the classroom. She is a valuable member of McKendree’s 2023 GLVC champion women’s soccer team, coaches young soccer players, and volunteers regularly through her church. She not only serves as a lab assistant in Voigt Science Hall at McKendree, but she also participates in STEM Day in Collinsville, Ill., each year with other STEM majors at McKendree. During STEM Day, she conducts fascinating experiments for and with elementary school students, encouraging the younger generation to engage with science.

 

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