Congratulations to Sarah Fedyna, recipient of the 2026 Academic Excellence Award at Craven Community College! Sarah is a dual-enrolled Career & College Promise student on Craven's Havelock campus and a senior at Havelock High School.
Academic Excellence Awards are the highest academic honor the North Carolina Community College System (NCCCS) bestows on its students. The award was created in 1998 to recognize and encourage scholarship among students at all 58 North Carolina community colleges. Each college selects one student to receive the award each year. To be eligible, students must be currently enrolled, have completed at least 12 semester hours in a curriculum degree program, and have a cumulative GPA of no less than 3.25. View the full list of winners here.
Meeting these rigorous standards has been a journey that Sarah describes as both challenging and rewarding. She has successfully balanced several sports and clubs with demanding core college classes to get a head start on her associate degree.
"Throughout my college experience, I have been able to take demanding classes, the most challenging of which was trigonometry," she said. "While the class had tough concepts and limited time to learn them, I have learned how to ask for help, which sometimes took me outside my comfort zone."
She credits Craven’s supportive environment and faculty for her academic and personal development. Specifically, she highlighted the impact of her pre-calculus teacher, Mrs. Moye, who helped shape her as a person and showed her that she can overcome hard things.
Beyond the faculty, Sarah has found inspiration in her peers.
"I have been surrounded by students whose motivation to learn has encouraged me to think creatively and work as a team," she said. "I am grateful for the opportunities that the college has given me, especially for the head start on my associate degree and being part of a learning community with other driven students."
