Luke Wyatt ’24, a liberal arts studies major with minors in archeology, classical studies, history, and philosophy, has been named the winner of the 2024 Robert L. Hill Distinguished Senior Award.

The award, one of the University of Lynchburg’s highest honors for undergraduate students, was presented on Friday, April 19, at the annual academic awards ceremony.

Wyatt, a commuter student from Bedford County, came to Lynchburg in the fall of 2021 as a self-described “out-of-practice transfer student” with “introverted tendencies.” In a letter to the Hill Award selection committee, Wyatt admitted to being “afraid that finding a place at Lynchburg would be a grueling uphill battle.”

What they found, in the end, was far from it.

Over the next three years, Wyatt joined several honor societies — Tau Sigma, Omicron Delta Kappa, Phi Kappa Phi, Phi Alpha Theta, and Phi Sigma Iota — along with the philosophy club, Theoria. They served as vice president of the Gender and Sexuality Alliance and president of the Student Archaeological Society.

They tutored at Lynchburg’s Wilmer Writing Center and trained and supervised tutors to help others. Wyatt also participated in an archaeology field school in Maryland and archaeological digs at Historic Sandusky, a house museum owned by the University.

They were mentored by professors in multiple academic disciplines — Latin, archaeology, history, and philosophy — the latter of which resulted in Wyatt adding a fourth minor in philosophy near the end of their college career.

“Ultimately … something told me that I had to pursue it,” they wrote. “Philosophy could be the bow that tied up all of my other interests in history, archaeology, classical studies, linguistics, anthropology, and museum studies.”

At Lynchburg’s 2023 academic awards ceremony, they received the Award for Outstanding Accomplishment in Classical Studies from the Classical Association of the Middle West and South, or CAMWS.

“Although the work was grueling at times,” Wyatt wrote to the committee, “I never could have imagined the home I would find with my professors and peers. … This school has both welcomed and challenged me, and I will leave this spring feeling like I have left a mark academically and in the community.”

In addition to Wyatt, finalists for the Hill Award included Amala Clawson ’24, ’24 MPH, a Westover Honors Fellow and biomedical science major with minors in chemistry and biology; Margaret Kicklighter ’24, a Westover Honors Fellow and environmental science major; Grace Milligan ’24, a Westover Honors Fellow and business administration and liberal arts double major with a minor in sustainability studies; and Victoria Rogers ’24, a Westover Honors Fellow and music education major.

The Robert L. Hill Distinguished Senior Award was established in memory of Hill, who served Lynchburg as a professor and chair of economics from 1965 to 1984. It’s presented to a senior who has excelled in academics, ranked in the top 2% of the graduating class, pursued a challenging and rigorous curriculum, and exhibited involvement in campus and community activities.