Emilie Tanner Honored with President’s Award for Academic Excellence at Valdosta State University

Emilie Ann Tanner

VALDOSTA — Emilie Ann Tanner of Waycross, Georgia, is the recipient of the Fall 2016 President’s Award for Academic Excellence for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at Valdosta State University.

The President’s Award for Academic Excellence is presented to the graduating student with the highest grade point average in each of VSU’s five colleges — College of Nursing and Health Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, College of the Arts, Harley Langdale Jr. College of Business Administration, and James L. and Dorothy H. Dewar College of Education and Human Services.

VSU will celebrate its 222^nd commencement on Friday, Dec. 9, and Saturday, Dec. 10.

Tanner will serve as the official banner carrier for the College of Nursing and Health Sciences during the undergraduate commencement ceremony at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Dec. 10, on the VSU Front Lawn. She will graduate magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing.

“I am beyond grateful to receive this honor and to be able to lead my classmates and fellow graduates ...,” she said. “To look out at each one of us and know that after all of the long days and late nights we have finally made it gives me so much joy. I am honored, and I thank each and every one of you for the impact you have had on my education and my success here at Valdosta State University.”

During her time as a student at VSU, Tanner earned Basic Life Support for Healthcare Providers certification, completed emergency medical training with the Federal Emergency Management Agency and a transcultural field study in Nicaragua with the School of Nursing, and consistently earned Dean’s List standing. She was inducted into Alpha Chi, a national college honor society; volunteered for the Waycross Service League, Rebuilding Together Waycross, Camp Reveille-YMCA Waycross, and Miracle League Waycross; and served as a Georgia High School Association cheerleading official and a Birthing Center at Mayo Clinic in Waycross intern.

Tanner plans to practice as a registered nurse in the Birthing Center at Mayo Clinic in Waycross after graduation and eventually return to school to earn a Master of Science in Nursing as either a family nurse practitioner or nurse midwife. She is the daughter of Berry and Madelyn Tanner.