Berwick student among top UL Lafayette grads

The University of Louisiana at Lafayette's College of the Arts named Maggie Martin as its Outstanding Graduate for fall 2018.
Her major is performing arts with a concentration in theater. Martin’s GPA is 3.4.
She is the daughter of Janea Giroir of Berwick. She helped stage numerous campus presentations, including as scenic and lighting designer for “As You Like It” and “Macbeth: An Adaptation by Tanner Cole,” as master electrician for “Q: A Tragedy” and “State of La Danse,” and as light board operator for “Metamorphoses.”
Martin lent her production skills to performances staged by the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, and the Acadiana Center for the Arts and the Christian Community Theater, both in Lafayette. She also interned at the Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre in Conway, and is lighting designer at Crossroads Church in Lafayette.
Martin served as business manager and vice president of the campus chapter of Alpha Psi Omega collegiate theater fraternity.
Anthropology major Alissa Netto is the University of Louisiana at Lafayette’s overall Outstanding Graduate.
Each spring and fall semester, deans from UL Lafayette’s academic colleges nominate a student as Outstanding Graduate. Nominations are based on leadership, scholarship and service. An Alumni Association committee interviews candidates and selects one to receive the overall award.
In addition to being the fall semester’s overall honoree, Netto represents the College of Liberal Arts as its Outstanding Graduate. She has a 3.97 GPA.
Netto is a member of Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society, the Honors Program, the Pride of Acadiana Color Guard, the Association of Future Alumni and the Moot Court team. She was the University Program Council’s director of traditions, spirit committee chairwoman and president.
Netto’s community service activities include volunteering with Acadiana Animal Aid, Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Special Olympics and the United Way Food Bank.
Netto interned at the U.S. District Court, Western District of Louisiana, and worked in its public defender’s office. She twice served as an adviser at the Junior National Young Leadership Conference in Washington, D.C.
She is the daughter of Wendy and John Netto of Slidell
The B.I. Moody III College of Business Administration selected Madeleine Comeaux of Duson as its Outstanding Graduate. She is a hospitality management major with a concentration in international business. Comeaux’s GPA is 3.92.
The College of Engineering chose Jacob Deshotels of Lafayette as its Outstanding Graduate. He is a mechanical engineering major and has a 3.85 GPA.
Denice Emokpae of Sugarland, Texas, is the College of Nursing and Allied Health Professions’ Outstanding Graduate. A nursing major, she has a 3.58 GPA.
The College of Education selected Rheanna Fontenot of Carencro as its Outstanding Graduate. Her major is kinesiology, with a concentration in exercise science. She has a 4.0 GPA.
University College named Bethany Godbold of Zachary as its Outstanding Graduate. She is a general studies major with a concentration in arts and humanities. Her GPA is 3.56.
Godbold is a member of Alpha Omicron Pi fraternity, and served as the campus chapter’s social chairwoman and reporter. She received its Pi and Pearl awards for academic achievement.
Dahlia Khalifa of Lafayette is the Outstanding Graduate for the Ray P. Authement College of Sciences. She is a biology major and has a 4.0 GPA.
Khalifa was an undergraduate research assistant. She examined the effects of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico on rhodoliths, calcium carbonate nodules in coralline algae.