2013 Outstanding Senior

A community, environment and development major who is a Schreyer Honors College student has been named the outstanding senior in Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences Class of 2013.

Kelcey Grogan, of Scranton, who will achieve a minor in Spanish, will have been named to the dean's list all eight semesters she has been at the University. A Golden Key National Honor Society member, she is a certified strength and fitness instructor who this year chaired the Penn State Fitness Instructors' involvement in the Penn State Dance Marathon.

She teaches weekly classes including pilates, yoga and muscle conditioning.

President of the Community, Environment and Development Club, Grogan also has worked as an undergraduate research and teaching assistant for Theodore Alter, professor of agricultural, environmental and regional economics

"Kelcey Grogan is extraordinarily brilliant, tenacious and personable -- an accomplished, creative scholar who is broadly and actively involved in University and community initiatives. Her character, judgment and integrity are impeccable," Alter said.

"She thinks always about others and how she might support them in their individual and community endeavors," he said. "In her work and behavior, Kelcey reflects the fundamental values, high standards and aspirations of Penn State's College of Agricultural Sciences."

Grogan's collegiate experience has not been confined to central Pennsylvania. During her tenure at the University, she has studied abroad in Jordan, Kenya and last year at the University of Alcala de Henares in Spain.

A competitive long-distance runner, Grogan has participated in marathons and half-marathons across Pennsylvania. She has worked for Teach For America the past three years, playing a number of different roles for the nonprofit organization, the mission of which is to enlist teachers for schools in low-income communities.

This is not the first honor Grogan has received while at Penn State. In 2010 she received the President's Freshman Award, and that same year she was named a semifinalist in the Penn State Civic Engagement Public Speaking Contest.

"One of the benefits of attending a large university is that I have had the opportunity to take classes on everything from soil science in Jordan to social and racial inequality in America to the philosophy of love," she said. "Every class I have taken has challenged me to think deeper and work harder, especially classes for my community, environment and development major.

"These classes have excited me about future possibilities and made me relish my time as a student."