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David Schwab Alumni Award 

The ³Ô¹Ï´óÈüºÚÁÏÍ·Ìõ David Schwab Alumni Award ((formerly Alumni Award for Service) was inaugurated in 2021 to recognize the service and contributions of alumni of ³Ô¹Ï´óÈüºÚÁÏÍ·Ìõ during their years after being an enrolled student. In 2021, in honor of our 50th anniversary, ³Ô¹Ï´óÈüºÚÁÏÍ·Ìõ presented inaugural alumni award for service to the ³Ô¹Ï´óÈüºÚÁÏÍ·Ìõ Alumni Association. 

The award is presented annually at our Homecoming in honor of an individual alumnus or alumna or group of alumni/ae who have devoted time and energy to engaging alumni in the ³Ô¹Ï´óÈüºÚÁÏÍ·Ìõ community.

2024: Kyle Florio ('22), Luke McBrine ('22), and Jeremy Novas ('24)

Our winners are exemplary students, athletes, and mentors within the Deaf community. Their time at ³Ô¹Ï´óÈüºÚÁÏÍ·Ìõ included numerous championships, awards, and school records for athletic achievements.

Most recently, this past summer, all three young men were selected to join the Deaf International Basketball Federation U21 World Team. They traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, where they, along with their teammates, proudly took home CHAMPIONSHIP GOLD for Team USA!

This is the first time in ³Ô¹Ï´óÈüºÚÁÏÍ·Ìõ history that three Alumni have been chosen simultaneously to represent Deaf athletics on an elite, international stage. This honor is a direct result of the discipline, commitment, and confidence that all three of our Alumni have displayed on and off the court. Deaf youth across the globe were able to follow and watch these young men and the entire USA team and become inspired to always follow their passion. 

2023: Shayna Unger 

In 2015, Shayna Unger, with her partner Scott Lehmann, scaled Mount Kilimanjaro. In 2020, they became the first all-deaf team to summit Aconcagua in South America. In 2021, they climbed Denali, becoming the first all-deaf team to reach the summit of North America’s tallest mountain. And if that were not enough, in 2023, Shayna and Scott reached the top of Mount Everest, making remarkable history as only the third and fourth Deaf people to summit Mount Everest. Shayna is the first Deaf woman - ever, to accomplish such an extraordinary feat.

2022: Jeffrey Mansfield

Jeffrey Mansfield is a designer, writer, and Deaflympic athlete working to advance architecture that is just and beautiful and to expand the Deaf Sports movement. Jeff is a three-time Gold Medalist, winning Gold at the 2007 and 2019 Winter Deaflympics and the 2017 World Ice Hockey Championships. Previously, he was a John W. Kluge Fellow at the Library of Congress and a Graham Foundation Grantee for his project, "The Architecture of Deafness.