Alexa Benitez, a first-generation college student, was named the recipient of the Lindley Award in the College of Letters, Arts and Social Sciences at the University of Idaho, according to an April 15 announcement. The award recognizes outstanding scholarship and character among students and is considered the highest annual honor offered by her college.
The recognition highlights Benitez’s academic achievements and her commitment to helping others. Her inspiration came from watching an attorney assist her grandfather with his naturalization process after moving to Idaho decades ago. “I was a little kid, and my grandfather always talked highly of lawyers like the one who helped him,” Benitez said. “He thought studying law was the highest educational achievement one could attain.”
Benitez will graduate in May with a double major in political science and psychology as well as a minor in philosophy. She has maintained a 4.0 grade point average while serving as an ASUI senator, director of student services at ASUI, member of the editorial board for her department’s undergraduate research journal, and two-year president of the PoliSci Society.
Florian Justwan, associate professor of political science, praised Benitez’s drive: “Alexa is an extremely driven, hard-working and motivated student. Beyond her performance in her regular semester classes, Alexa brings additional skills to the table that may not be immediately obvious from studying her resume.”
Her research on U.S. attitudes toward immigrants was presented at university symposiums and published in Cook Undergraduate Research Journal. In addition to academics, she served on advisory boards including U of I’s Center for Disability Access and Resources.
Benitez said that being involved with extracurricular activities built her confidence: “I gained so much confidence from being in ASUI and through my professors in political science,” she said.
She recently applied to attend law school at University of Idaho—fulfilling both personal ambitions and honoring family legacy after losing her grandfather during her first semester at U of I. “When my grandfather died… I wanted to make him proud and to achieve something he never had,” she said.
The Lindley Award includes a $1,000 monetary prize from a memorial fund established by Ernest K. Lindley—a distinguished alumnus whose father served as university president from 1917-1920—and adds each winner’s name to a plaque outside the dean’s office.
