During its annual Honors Convocation ceremony earlier this month, Elmhurst College announced the recipients of the Founders Award and the Senior of the Year Award, which are among the College’s top honors for individual student academic achievement.

The Founders Award recognizes self-initiated service that effects change and embodies humane values. One of the awards is given for service to the campus; a second is given for service to the community beyond campus; and a third is given for global service.

• Jose Flores, of Aurora, won the Founders Award known as the Cureton Award for Service to the Global Community. A junior majoring in music education, Flores is a member of numerous ensembles and musical groups and is a student conductor. He also was a visiting music educator in Jamaica and Tokyo, and recently conducted during a Veterans Day concert and at Elmhurst College’s Midyear Commencement. He believes his purpose is “to reach farther than our domestic sphere, and bond humans cross-culturally with the most powerful connective force on Earth: music.”

• Chelsea Karson, of Lake Zurich, won the Founders Award for Service to the Greater Society. A senior majoring in biology, Karson is the service chair for the Honors Organization, a student researcher, and a founding member of an animal shelter and the Commuter Advisory Board. She has completed more than 100 volunteer hours in the emergency room of Good Shepherd Hospital. Karson says her service work has taught her many lessons, and “the values I will apply to my chosen career as a physician are patience, acceptance and advocacy.”

• Meredithe Mimlitz, of Elmhurst, received the Founders Award for Service to the College Community. A senior with double majors in communication studies and religion and service, Mimlitz served for three years in the Student Government Association (SGA) as president, executive vice president and vice president of administration. As a member of the SGA’s executive team, Mimlitz gathered student perspectives about all areas of campus life through the creation of the Campus Community Questions Programs. She also served as president and vice president of Elmhurst College Progressive Christians and as director of worship for the Spiritual Life Council.

Mimlitz also won the 2015 Senior of the Year Award, a highly sought-after award whose winner is selected by a special committee of the Elmhurst College Alumni Association. The association created the award to honor the senior who typifies the Elmhurst College graduate. The winner excels in academics and campus involvement, and is committed to continuing the Elmhurst College tradition.