FSU PC GRAD STUDENT REAGAN LAND AWARDED NOTABLE NOLES SCHOLARSHIP

Each year since 1996, FSU Panama City has recognized select alumni as Notable Noles for demonstrating leadership, philanthropy, academic and professional excellence, and for making outstanding contributions to the community.

In recent years, the event has also provided a chance to honor a current student by awarding the Notable Nole Scholarship. The nominees may be viewed as “future Notable Noles,” as they are actively pursuing academic excellence and finding ways to serve the community.

The winner for 2024 was Reagan Land, a graduate student in Corporate and Professional Communications. She also is currently serving as administrative assistant to the Student Government Council. Nominated by communications professor Laurie Lawrence, Ph.D., Land completed her undergraduate degree with honors in May 2024 and used the “BS to MS” track to get a jump start on her graduate classes.

“It is such an honor to even be considered for this,” Land said when she accepted the award. “Ever since I toured this school back in 2016—my sophomore year of high school—I just fell in love with this campus, and I was right to. All of the faculty, staff and everyone really, is just so amazing, and the deans will work with you no matter what.”

Land has served as president of the Communications Club and hosted some of the largest events on campus, including a toy drive during which more than $1,500 in toys were collected. She has been an active board member of the SGC and continues to garner a high GPA in her graduate studies. In 2022, she was part of a team that won the Overall Award in the undergrad level of the annual Student Research Symposium for a project on Student Engagement at FSU PC.

“Their research sought to understand how engagement could become the long-term culture of FSU Panama City, and how engagement fosters a sense of belonging in our students,” said Associate Dean Irvin Clark, who presented the award during a luncheon on Nov. 19. “There’s a lot more to the learning paradigm than the four walls of a classroom. (Reagan) has taken the student engagement model to a whole other level.”

The Notable Nole Scholarship campaign was spearheaded by Frank Hall of Cadence Bank, a member of the Dean’s Council and an FSU Foundation trustee. Land is the third recipient of the scholarship. For information on giving to scholarship programs, visit pc.fsu.edu/alumni-giving or call Katie May, director of Development, at (850) 445-3250.