Poteau student named an OSU Outstanding Senior
STILLWATER — Jerret Dane Carpenter, a natural resource ecology management and philosophy major from Poteau, was selected as an Oklahoma State University Outstanding Senior for the 2022-23 academic year by the OSU Alumni Association.
The Outstanding Seniors award recognizes seniors who show excellence through academic achievement, campus and community involvement, academic, athletic or extracurricular honors or awards, scholarships and work ethic during their time at OSU.
While at OSU, Carpenter served as a student leader for OSU Center for Sovereign Nations, a community mentor for OSU Housing and Residential Life and founding president of Cowboy Classics Club. He also was a Ferguson College of Agriculture Student Success Leader and an AG1011 Student Academic Mentor. Carpenter represented OSU at the 2022 National Collegiate Honors Council Conference. His community involvement includes the Annual OSU Powwow, serving as a TLX small group leader and coordinating the inaugural OSU Virtual Trail of Tears. Carpenter is a United States Forest Service Native American Research Assistant and coordinated the keynote speaker for 2020 “March for Justice Eastern Oklahoma.”
Carpenter was recognized as a 2022 Senior of Significance and a National Udall Scholar honorable mention. He is a Women for OSU Scholar and was the OSU Institutional Nominee for the National Mitchell Scholarship.
Carpenter won the 2021 and 2022 OSU MLK Jr. Celebration Art Contest and has a published MLK Anthology essay in the Cimmaron Review.
“I came to OSU for one reason,” Carpenter said, “but I am graduating with so many more.”
After graduation, Carpenter will continue to work in higher education while pursuing a master’s degree in Native American leadership with an option in education from Southeastern Oklahoma State University. His ultimate goal is to receive his doctorate degree and begin a career in academia.
The OSU Alumni Association Student Awards Selection Committee met with 47 Seniors of Significance selected in the fall of 2022, choosing 21 as this year’s Oustanding Seniors.
A private, limited-capacity reception honoring the Outstanding Seniors will take place April 6 at the ConocoPhillips OSU Alumni Center in Stillwater.