Honored for their service: Three SIU Carbondale students received SIU System Distinguished Student Service Awards at the SIU Board of Trustees meeting on April 17. From left are Sheraya Bernard, Caden Cockburn and Penny Bordewick. (Photo by Russell Bailey)
April 21, 2025
Three SIU Carbondale students receive 2025 SIU System Distinguished Student Service Awards
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Three students from Southern Illinois University Carbondale received 2025 SIU System Distinguished Student Service Awards at the SIU Board of Trustees meeting on April 17.
The SIU Board of Trustees and the Student Advisory Council for the SIU System (SACSS) are honoring outstanding students in the SIU System “whose acts of service are demonstrative of excellence and exemplary commitment to the support, advancement and achievement of fellow students, their campus, and their community.”
The SACSS received applications from across the system and selected one undergraduate student and one graduate student from both the SIU Carbondale and SIU Edwardsville campuses and one student each from the SIU Simmons Law School, SIU School of Medicine, SIU School of Dental Medicine and the SIU School of Pharmacy. Each student receives a plaque and $100.
The 2025 SIU System Distinguished Service Award recipients from SIU Carbondale are:
Undergraduate winner
Penny Bordewick, of Bloomington, a junior majoring in political science with a double minor in history and preprofessional writing, is SIU Carbondale’s undergraduate student recipient. Bordewick, who is attending SIU on the Chancellor’s Scholarship, has been actively involved in servant leadership since her arrival.
Bordewick’s projects across campus and the Carbondale community have included Saluki Scholars in Action, where University Honors Program students work with after-school care programs, Admissions Open House Days, the nonprofit student organization Students for Kids’ Sake International and SIU Model United Nations. Bordewick has been a writing consultant in the Writing Center, a student orientation leader, student worker with the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute and a tutor for student-athletes.
An Undergraduate Student Government (USG) member since the spring 2023 semester, Bordewick in spring 2024 became the first woman to be elected USG president in 12 years in April 2024 for the 2024-2025 academic year. Bordewick recently represented SIU to the Illinois Board of Higher Education Student Advisory Committee, where she served as vice chair. Bordewick said she fully intends “to continue seeking ways to give back to the university that has given so much to me over the last three years, and I hope to leave a legacy of gratitude, kindness, and leading by example when I graduate in May of 2026.”
Graduate winner
Caden Cockburn, of Johnston City, who will earn a master’s degree in business analytics in August 2025, is the SIU Carbondale’s graduate student recipient. A Chancellor’s Scholar recipient, Cockburn earned his bachelor’s degree in agricultural systems and education, and agribusiness economics in May 2024.
Over the last several years, Cockburn has totaled more than 1,000 hours of volunteer service to various initiatives and individuals. He has served in roles to help recruit future Salukis through the Saluki Ambassador program, the Student Alumni Council and as an Agbassador in the College of Agricultural, Life, and Physical Sciences. He is a graduate assistant with Undergraduate Admissions and worked as a campus visit representative and a student employee with the SIU Alumni Association.
The CEO and owner of Cade’s Lil’ Farm, where he manages a dairy goat breeding operation, Cockburn is a licensed American Dairy Goat Association judge, and he chairs the organization’s publicity, promotional and education committee. He also volunteers as an announcer at key community events and mentors Johnston City High School students in their college search. He notes that his efforts supporting SIU Carbondale “remain among my greatest passions.” Cockburn added he strives “to embody, dedication, compassion and perseverance” to enrich lives and strengthen community bonds.
Law school winner
Sheraya Bernard, of St. Martinville, Louisiana, a second-year law student, is the SIU Simmons Law School recipient. Prior to coming to SIU, she earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and was in the North Carolina Central University School of Law juris doctor pre-law summer pipeline program.
Bernard is president of the SIU Black Law Students Association and the National Black Law Students Association Midwest Region vice chair, and she volunteers with The Immigration Project by conducting interviews with asylum seekers and compiling detailed client histories. Other volunteer efforts have included the Public Interest Law Initiative’s First Judicial Circuit Pro Bono Committee, Keep Carbondale Beautiful, the SIU Center for Archaeological Investigations’ NAGPRA program and the SIU Sustainability Office for the 2024 National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week. During this academic year, Bernard was a member of the law school’s selection committee for faculty and a new dean. She has interned with the Federal Public Defender’s Office for the Southern District of Illinois and Land of Lincoln Legal Aid.
Bernard notes that she measures success “not just by personal achievements but by how many seats I can help create at the table for others. Through structured mentorship, cross-organizational partnerships and community-based initiatives, I work to ensure that the promise of justice becomes a reality for all communities I serve.”