John Willoughby
reporter2@greenepublishing.com
During the 2019-2020 North Florida College (NFC) Virtual Honors Convocation on Thursday, April 23, Lafayette County student Dawson Jackson was announced as the 2020 Student of the Year. Jackson is a dual-enrolled Lafayette High School student, who recently completed his Associate in Arts degree with a 4.0 GPA.
Jackson was honored along with 33 other students who showed outstanding character and performance during the 2019-2020 academic year while attending NFC. “Over the past four years, the instructors and staff at NFC have been crucial to my success,” Jackson said. “The instructors at NFC are willing to go above and beyond to help their students.” Jackson also credits chemistry instructor Dr. Manoharan Mariappan, who “has been very helpful when it comes to setting and achieving my career goals.”
Jennifer Page, NFC Dean of Academic Affairs, expressed her thoughts on Jackson's impressiveness to maintain a high GPA while taking all chemistry courses NFC has to offer. “When we select an outstanding student to be recognized for the award, we look at what makes a student stand out among the rest,” said Page. “[Jackson] has earned beyond the 60 credit hours required to complete an AA degree; in fact, this student will graduate with a total of 84 credit hours as a dual-enrolled student.”
After NFC, Jackson will transfer to the University of Florida in the Fall, where he will pursue a degree in biochemistry. Jackson also plans to attend medical school and become certified as an anesthesiologist. His advice to any student who pursues education at NFC is to take everything one semester at a time. “Hard work will carry you across the finish line,” Jackson said. “I am honored to represent the college as the 2020 NFC Student of the Year.”