Georgia Jade Wynn of Valdosta, Georgia, is the recipient of the 2022-2023 College of Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Student Award at Valdosta State University.

Wynn was recognized during VSU’s annual Academic Honors Program on April 27.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences Outstanding Student Award is presented to a student with a record of academic excellence and distinguished service inside and outside the classroom.

“The College of Humanities and Social Sciences at VSU has provided me with amazing opportunities and mentors, and I feel blessed to receive this award,” she shared. “Studying in my college has been an honor and a privilege, and I will forever be grateful for the faculty members, family, and friends who have encouraged me to pursue my academic goals.”

Wynn graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor Arts in English, a Minor in Spanish, and an Honors College Certificate during VSU’s 235^th Commencement on May 6.

As a student at VSU, Wynn has served as an orientation leader; a commuter success coach; a student assistant for the Department of Physics, Astronomy, Geosciences, and Engineering Technology; a member of the VSU Forensics (Speech and Debate) Team; event coordinator and recruitment chair for the Honors Student Association; and a tutor and mentor with the Academic Support Center. She performed as the sandman fairy in VSU Opera’s production of “Hansel and Gretel,” served as a two-time panelist during Ethics Awareness Week, and studied abroad in Cádiz, Spain.

Wynn presented original research at the 2022 and 2023 VSU Undergraduate Research Symposium, 2022 and 2023 Georgia Collegiate Honors Council Conference, and 2021 and 2022 Georgia Undergraduate Research Conference. Her research interests include modern literature, psychoanalysis, and trauma studies. Her paper, “Eternal Roots: Science, Nature, and Religion in ‘The Overstory,’” won first place in the Humanities Student Essay Competition at the 2023 Georgia Collegiate Honors Council Conference.

Wynn continues to develop “The Art of Our Afflictions,” a collection of poetry written by undergraduate students from universities across the nation and around the world; the project earned her VSU’s Bartram Award during the 2021-2022 academic year. She published “The Taste of Winter,” a poem, in the 2022 Odradek, an on-campus literary journal, and “‘Be Something More Than Man or Woman. Be Tandy’: Resisting and Redefining Gender in Winesburg, Ohio” in the Fall 2022 Omnino, VSU’s undergraduate research journal. She helped collect more than $1,000 during a book drive and fundraiser for J.L. Lomax Elementary School.   

Wynn’s commitment to academic, creative, leadership, research, and service excellence resulted in her earning repeated Dean’s List recognitions, as well as the Excellence in the Study of Spanish Language and Hispanic Cultures: Spanish Minor Award, English Undergraduate Scholarship, Georgia Power Foundation Recruiting and Retention Scholarship, Hugh C. Bailey Family Scholarship, Harold Gulliver Memorial Scholarship, Gilman Scholarship, College of Humanities and Social Sciences Study Abroad Scholarship, Honors Scholar Study Abroad Stipend, VSU Foundation Scholarship, and Odum Scholarship. She was a Zell Miller Scholar and Honors Scholar. 

“I plan to continue my educational career at VSU this fall in the Master of Arts in English program,” she noted. “I hope to enter into an English or comparative literature doctoral program in the near future. I am actively working towards becoming a professor.” 

Her supportive family includes mom Brandi Gartman, stepdad James Gartman, among many others.