The NCAA basketball tournaments are over and the playoffs start tonight for the Penguins and soon the NBA will start its year-end competition to determine who is champion.

I've been conducting a similar exercise as I prepare for May's commencement.

Twenty-seven Saint Vincent College students were nominated to receive the President's Award, the highest honor the College bestows on a graduating senior. This award goes to the nominee whose academic accomplishment, campus leadership, and community service demonstrate excellence and reflect the best that a Catholic, Benedictine, liberal arts education can fashion.

The winner will be announced on April 23rd during the Honors Convocation that will be held in the Basilica. We won't have a red carpet with paparazzi, or a Benedictine black carpet either, but we will have a wonderful ceremony to announce the 2008 President's Award winner and reception following the ceremony for the finalists and their families.

Before I announce the five finalists, I want to thank those members of the faculty, administration and student body who nominated one or more graduating seniors for this award. The 27 individuals nominated had exceptional qualifications and made my effort to narrow the list very difficult.

The five finalists have many credentials and I won't try to list them all.

Here are the five finalists for the 2008 Saint Vincent College President's Award, and a few highlights of their accomplishments:

Jen DeLuca - An English major who finds time to volunteer at the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve, Jen also is President of the Saint Vincent College Band and helped get the Pep Band up and running this year. She's been active with Kappa Delta Pi and the Orientation Committee for years, and this semester she tutored on campus.

Wayne Hooper - Wayne is a star cross country athlete, an outstanding student (Psych Ed major), and a member of both Psi Chi and Kappa Delta Pi honor societies, and he went on the trip to Calcutta last May.

Steven Leuschel - Former President of the Student Government Association Executive Board, Steven is a Liberal Arts major who will graduate with honors. He ran cross country, has been very active in Campus Ministry (on three occasions he went to Brazil during spring break to work with the poor and orphaned), and has been an exemplary prefect.

Ashley Nord - An outstanding student who is heading to med school, Ashley has been very active outside of the classroom as a member of the tennis team and other activities. Perhaps you saw her last weekend as she sang in the Company production in the Carey Center (my wife, family and I did) or earlier this year when she starred in "Joseph."

Valerie Rogers - She's remarkable at many levels, too - superb student who will receive a B.S. degree in Mathematics, with a secondary education teaching certification; played a bunch of intramural sports here; portrayed the Blessed Mother in the Lenten "Way of the Cross" production (7 programs in 4 days!); was on Homecoming Court this year; and participated in numerous Campus Ministry activities.

I want to congratulate these fine men and women.

All five of these candidates share other traits - a great sense of humor, a lively faith in Jesus Christ, and a disposition to put their faith into action and in the service of others. They simply are stars. Any one of these candidates deserves the award. All will be recognized at the Honors Convocation and will be present when I announce my decision. It will be one of the most difficult ones I will make this year.

If you see Jen, Wayne, Steven, Ashley, or Val on campus, please congratulate them. They are shining examples of the Saint Vincent College difference. They with their fellow graduates will join our 10,000-plus army of ambassadors of the College as active alums and exemplars of excellence.

I was in Harrisburg earlier this week meeting with the other presidents of Pennsylvania's independent colleges and universities. In private conversations with dozens of these leaders, it became evident to me that the stature and reputation of Saint Vincent College are on the rise.

With the kind of quality at Saint Vincent evident in the character and integrity of our Class of 2008, it is no wonder that again this year applications are at record levels, there is a waiting list, the Freshmen deposits are running ahead of last year, and the academic credentials of those accepted are improved.

It is springtime at Saint Vincent!