Their goal was never to be at the top of their class — but, now that they are, they're certainly enjoying the view — and the rewards.

Sijia Wang and Zachary Nichols were 2017's inaugural recipients of the Margaret Julia Ward and the Bevan Blau Lewis awards. The scholarships recognize the female and male graduating students with the highest GPA.

Virginia Beatty and her siblings created the awards to honor their parents, Bevan Blau Lewis (BSCE '21) and Margaret Ward Lewis (BSCE '21). Be sure to read about Ward and Lewis in the adjacent article.

Wang and Nichols say their desire to earn the best GPA was not motivated by hopes of earning recognition. Both students expressed surprise and deep gratitude upon receiving the awards.

"I’m the sort of student who performs better with support and knowing the school and my professors are there for me," Sijia says. "I've always felt that in our department. And then to receive a reward for all my work was really great. Honestly, I feel like there were so many other students who were just as deserving of this. I’m very thankful."

"I've always tried to do my best in school," Nichols says. "It was important to me to take away something from each of my classes. When I found out I was going to receive this reward I was, of course, excited about it. It's great to have your school recognize all the work you've done by honoring you like this."

2017 is the first year the Ward and Lewis scholarships have been awarded. Both Wang and Nichols are confident the scholarships will provide extra motivation to the Lyles School of Civil Engineering’s top-performing students.

"It will definitely entice students to put in that extra effort to stay or get ahead of the class," Nichols says. "Knowing there is extra recognition for top performers is good motivation."

"I think this will really help encourage students because of what the award means," Wang says. "I know when I won, I told all of my friends — some are seniors now — and they were pretty excited to hear about it."

Now, as graduate students, both Wang  (in CE) and Nichols (in Engineering Management) say they plan to apply their undergraduate skills toward research.

"Purdue has been a great experience for me, and while the work has been hard — especially in grad school — I know I have the school and teachers to support me," Wang says.