{"id":355605,"date":"2026-01-21T14:47:36","date_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:47:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/?p=355605"},"modified":"2026-01-21T14:47:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-21T18:47:36","slug":"dominican-students-shine-as-high-achievers-at-western-illinois-university","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/dominican-students-shine-as-high-achievers-at-western-illinois-university\/","title":{"rendered":"Dominican students shine as high achievers at Western Illinois University"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_355606\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-355606\" style=\"width: 640px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-355606 size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/WIU-graduates-media-e1769020728385-642x715.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"640\" height=\"713\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-355606\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">WIU Dominican graduates. Photo: WIU<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>A group of Dominican students has demonstrated noteworthy excellence at Western Illinois University, with five graduates participating in the December 2025 Commencement Exercises and seven students earning spots on the Dean\u2019s List for Fall 2025.<\/p>\n<p>WIU reports that among the December graduates, one student earned a master\u2019s degree, while four others completed their bachelor\u2019s degrees.<\/p>\n<p>These students were part of a larger Caribbean student body at WIU, which includes over 15 individuals across various levels of study.<\/p>\n<p>The Dean\u2019s List recognition was awarded to seven Dominican students during the fall semester, all of whom maintained impressive GPAs exceeding 3.6.<\/p>\n<p>Several of these students achieved\u00a0 perfect 4.0 GPAs for the semester, highlighting their dedication and academic excellence.<\/p>\n<p>WIU President Kristi Mindrup emphasized the important place that Caribbean students have carved for themselves in the institution, stating, \u201cStudents who hail from the Caribbean islands represent some of Western Illinois University\u2019s high academic achievers. WIU is a home away from home for students around the globe who add to the university\u2019s mission, culture, and impact around the world.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>She also had words of admiration for the ongoing accomplishments of Dominican and Caribbean students at WIU, noting, that the school continues to be impressed with the performance of these students.<\/p>\n<p>The December graduates include:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Marissa Norris from Loubiere, who earned a Master of Science in Computer Science. She previously obtained a bachelor\u2019s degree in the same field from Texas and served as a graduate assistant in Global Studies, where she managed local affairs for Caribbean students.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Berni Servil from Loubiere, who graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Biology, earning cum laude honors.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Michelle M. Daniel from Roseau, also receiving a Bachelor of Science in Biology with cum laude honors. She was inducted into the Phi Kappa Phi Honor Society.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Keithan Vidal from Salisbury, who earned a Bachelor of Science in Quantitative Economics.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Chelsea Dailey from Roseau, who completed a Bachelor of Business in Human Resource Management.<\/p>\n<p>The students recognized on the Dean\u2019s List include:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Jeanelle R E Kerr (Senior)<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Berni Hamael Servil (Senior)<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Naomi C P Scotland (Senior)<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Keithan Danton Vidal (Senior)<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Sanchez Jno Baptiste (Senior)<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Joshua Douglas (Senior)<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Akysha Laronde (Senior)<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A group of Dominican students has demonstrated noteworthy excellence at Western Illinois University, with five graduates participating in the December 2025 Commencement Exercises and seven students earning spots on the Dean\u2019s List for Fall 2025. WIU reports that among the&#8230;","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":355606,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","footnotes":""},"categories":[16,235,9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-355605","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-educationyouth","category-homepage-carousel","category-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dominican students shine as high achievers at Western Illinois University - Dominica News Online<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dominicanewsonline.com\/news\/homepage\/homepage-carousel\/dominican-students-shine-as-high-achievers-at-western-illinois-university\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dominican students shine as high achievers at Western Illinois University - Dominica News Online\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A group of Dominican students has demonstrated noteworthy excellence at Western Illinois University, with five graduates participating in the December 2025 Commencement Exercises and seven students earning spots on the Dean\u2019s List for Fall 2025. 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