The graduates who received Pitt’s top honors in 2023

Amid a week of celebrations, Friday, April 29, marked Pitt’s Senior Distinguished Awards Convocation, honoring some of the University of Pittsburgh’s most accomplished students. Among the honorees are three students who earned the most prestigious awards for graduating seniors given by the University: the Emma W. Locke Memorial Award and the Omicron Delta Kappa (ODK) Senior of the Year award.

“I get to see students when they first come to Pitt, and they’re sort of wide-eyed and don't know what to expect,” said Vice Provost for Student Affairs Kenyon R. Bonner. “To see them at this point in their time at Pitt, especially this group of students who have achieved so much, is just so meaningful and inspirational.”

Here are the 2023 winners.

Opening doors

Danielle Obisie-Orlu has big aspirations: U.N. Secretary General and, eventually, the U.S. presidency. For today, at least, she’s a 2023 ODK Senior of the Year, an award for students who show exceptional leadership and character.

“What this award means to me is when my mentees ever start doubting themselves or feeling like they don't belong, they can just sit for a moment and reflect, and think about the seeds they have planted in other people that have flourished,” Obisie-Orlu said. “Because this award is the seed that previous winners have planted in me.”

Obisie-Orlu graduates from Pitt with broad expertise, having collected a political science major along with minors in French and sociology, certificates in transatlantic studies and African studies, an honors distinction and a global distinction.  

She has also completed five substantial research projects — including studying xenophobia in migrants of African descent in France and South Africa — and spent two years as president of Pitt’s Resident Student Association while also mentoring refugee youth and international students as part of the Global Ties program. She was also named Allegheny County Youth Poet Laureate.

Next, she plans to pursue advanced degrees in political science and law.

Obisie-Orlu’s message for others? “You got it, don’t doubt yourself. You’re in the space that you need to be,” she said. “The door opened not because you thought you were ready, but because you are.”

Roc unmasked

Few can claim to have more school spirit than communication rhetoric grad Colin Uher, who graduated not only from Pitt’s Kenneth P. Dietrich School of Arts and Sciences but from a four-year career as the University’s beloved panther mascot, Roc. To cap off that experience, Uher was chosen as a 2023 ODK Senior of the Year.

“I think it’s a really big fulfillment of what I hoped I was putting into the University, but also getting back from it,” Uher said. “Because the opportunities and experiences I was getting were so life-changing and very much enriching.”

A lifelong Pitt sports fan, Uher — as Roc — was a ubiquitous presence at events across the University. His enthusiasm and pride earned him third place at the 2021 NCA Mascot Nationals and the “Spirit of Roc” Award. A member of the Pitt Men’s Volleyball Club team and the Panthers Forward program, Uher is also a two-year captain of the Pitt Spirit Group.

And though he’s taken off the Roc costume, his role as a Pitt student isn’t over. Next, he’s attending the School of Law to pursue a career as a judge.

“This is a true family,” Uher said. “Getting this award is a gratifying moment for me to realize that I did give back to the school as much as it gave to me.”

Addressing mental health disparities

The Emma W. Locke Award recognizes one undergraduate student each year for high scholarship, character, leadership and devotion to the ideals of the University of Pittsburgh. This year’s winner is School of Nursing student Sabella Prime, honored for her excellence in academics, research and service.

“I am honestly so grateful, literally moved to tears,” Prime said. “Just being nominated was so much of an honor, and to actually win and be recognized means the world to me.”

Prime excelled in her courses and led her own independent research project, studying mental health literacy and looking for potential disparities between Black and non-Black youth. Among other associations and honors societies, she also served as president of Pitt’s Black Student Nurses Association  as it took on community service activities and increased its membership.

Next, she heads to Columbia University to pursue a doctorate in psychiatric mental health nursing.

Prime also offered a piece of advice to those just starting their journey, inspired by her own challenges navigating school life during the pandemic. “Try to make the most out of every opportunity,” she said. “Trying to find the opportunities when they’re difficult is so important.”

— Patrick Monahan with material from Julia Kebuladze, photography by Aimee Obidzinski