Top Student Leaders Honored with 2025 Jabara Leadership Awards
Each year, Benedictine College presents two graduating seniors with a special award, the Jabara Leadership Award, for their impact on the campus. The late Dr. Fran Jabara, from Wichita State University, established this award in 2002 to help recognize graduating college seniors who display exemplary leadership skills. The award, presented during the annual Commencement Exercises, indicates the high level of ability the recipients have displayed as well as the respect with which their peers and teachers view them. This year, the recipients of the Jabara Leadership Awards are Margaret Halpin and Jeffrey Schremmer.
Margaret Halpin
Maggie Halpin stands as she is announced as a Jabara Leadership Award recipient at the 2025 Commencement Ceremony at Benedictine College.
“I was very surprised and honored to receive the Fran Jabara Leadership Award at Saturday’s Commencement. I was already filled with such gratitude for the formation I received at Benedictine and the chance to celebrate all the people who have been so committed to my growth with this award was incredibly special,” Halpin said. “I was pleased to discover that this award holds great personal significance for my family. My father, Ted Halpin, a 1984 graduate of Benedictine, was blessed to have taken one of Fran Jabara’s entrepreneurship classes which was inspirational for his career. I am so grateful to have received this award in celebration of four transformative years at Benedictine and I hope to carry on Fran Jabara’s legacy of excellence in leadership.”
Maggie graduated with degrees in Psychology and Theology. She has been a high-achieving student and has been on the President’s List or Dean’s List every semester of her college career and is a member of the Psi Chi International Honor Society in Psychology.
She was also an active campus leader, serving as President of the Campus Activities Board, a member of the Student Alumni Board, a Raven Orientation Camp Leader, a Resident Assistant, and a Peer Mentor. She also led a mission trip to Ghana.
She was a well-rounded individual, completing a minor in Music. With that talent, she participated in several vocal groups like the St. Scholastica Singers, the Lemkeys a Capella group, and the Music Ministry Choir.
In 2023, she attended the Catholic Worldview Fellowship, spending a month in Italy and Germany learning how to evangelize from the standpoint of the Catholic worldview. She served as one of the student auctioneers at the 2025 Scholarship Ball and helped raise record Fund-A-Raven donations for student scholarships.
In the fall, Halpin will begin pursuing a Master’s in Clinical Mental Health Counseling at MidAmerica Nazarene University. She also plans to work as a behavioral health technician at Saint Luke’s Hospital Crittenton Children’s Center.
She is the daughter of Ted and Lisa Halpin of Leawood, Kansas.
Jeffrey Schremmer
Jeffrey Schremmer stands as he is announced as a Jabara Leadership Award recipient at the 2025 Commencement Ceremony at Benedictine College.
“It was my great honor to receive the Professor Fran Jabara Leadership Award, especially given the great number of accomplished graduates in the Class of 2025,” said Schremmer. “My reception of this award is truly a testament to the exemplary personal, spiritual, and leadership formation I was blessed to receive in my four years at Benedictine College, and I have my excellent professors, mentors, and fellow graduates to thank for that formation.”
Schremmer graduated with degrees in Economics and Political Science. He came to Benedictine as a Presidential Scholar and was named the top student in both Political Science and Economics at the Academic Awards Banquet this year. He finished his college career with a perfect 4.0 GPA and was one of the Class of 2025 valedictorians.
He has been very active on campus, having been elected to two terms as student body president. He was also a member of the Gregorian Fellows and the Constitutional Fellows. He is a two-time national qualifier in the Moot Court competition and this year he received the Top Orator Award, making him one of the best speakers in America. Schremmer also coaches the Maur Hill-Mount Academy Mock Trial Team in Atchison and has taken them to the state championship.
He spent the summer of 2022 campaigning throughout the State of Kansas in favor of the Value Them Both Amendment. For his work in the pro-life movement, he was awarded the Transforming Culture in America Award from Benedictine College.
Schremmer also spent time in Washington, D.C., studying politics and economics through the Hertog Foundation and the prestigious Röpke-Wojtyła Fellowship. He will attend law school beginning in the fall.
He is the son of Joe and Chris Schremmer of Pittsburg, Kansas.
