The 2020 Grove City College Senior Man and Woman of the Year honorees are, respectively, Falco Muscante ’20 and Torres Kearney ’20.
Grove City College President Paul J. McNulty announced the awards Friday during a virtual Recognition Convocation for the Class of 2020. The awards are presented jointly by the leadership honoraries Mortar Board and Omicron Delta Kappa as a service to Grove City College. The selections are made on the basis of scholarship, leadership and service.
Muscante is a Management major with a concentration in Human Resources and minor in Pre-Law from Elizabeth, Pa. In addition to his academic success and deep involvement with the College community, McNulty said is a talented musician who plays alto saxophone in the College Jazz Band. He plans to attend law school.
He served as editor-in-chief of the College’s Journal of Law and Public Policy, as well as a resident assistant, teaching assistant, ministry leader and Student Advisory Leadership Team. Muscante worked in Career Services and Admissions offices, where he served as an ambassador and tour guide, and in the President’s Office. He is a member of ODK and earned academic honors.
Remarking on the Man of the Year distinction, Muscante said he was “incredibly humbled” and revealed that Grove City College was not even on his list when he was looking for a college. He said he took a tour and “fell in love with the place.”
“I knew this was where God was calling me to be,” he said. “I’m thrilled to have been a part of a community … a thick community ... where there are so many that are there to support you and to come alongside you and encourage you.”
Kearney is a Biochemistry major with a History minor from Dublin, Ohio. She demonstrates academic excellence through independent research, sacrificial service and exemplary character in her on-campus activities and a “heart for ministry” through missions trips at home and abroad, McNulty said. She plans to attend medical school.
Among her many academic achievements and on-campus roles, Kearny served on the Orientation Board Religious Committee, as an officer of Alpha Beta Tau sorority officer and bible study leader. She worked at Henry Buhl Library and as a Chemistry lab assistant and is a member of the Crown and Scepter service honorary and ODK.
Kearney said she was humbled and honored to be named Senior Woman of the Year and that Grove City College shaped me into the person I am today."
“Thinking back over my time at GCC, the Lord truly just showed himself so clearly,” Kearney said. “I cannot have imagined spending my college years anywhere else. He provided a space where i could grow spiritually and academically and best of all within a community that constantly pushed me back to him."
Nominees for Senior Woman of the Year also included Kate Balcom, Anne Shirley Dassow, Emma Hartshorn and Kelsey Tischler. Nominees for Senior Man of the Year also included Emmanuel Agladima, Adam Bannister, Noah Gould and Brooks Thomas.
The senior awards are the highest honors that the College can bestow on students. Their names are recorded for posterity on a memorial plaque on a boulder outside Harbison Chapel on campus. Former recipients of this prestigious honor have gone on to become leaders in faith, education, business, law and health care.