Omicron Delta Kappa
Aleksandr Kuzmenchuk Named 2024 Omicron Delta Kappa National Leader of the Year - Athletics
Lexington, VA (05/07/2024) — Aleksandr (Alek) Kuzmenchuk of Bowie, Maryland, has been named the 2024 Omicron Delta Kappa National Leader of the Year for Athletics. This award is one of the highest honors presented to an undergraduate member of the Society each year.
Kuzmenchuk is a 2022 initiate of the William & Mary Circle in Williamsburg, Virginia. He will graduate in May 2024 with a 3.98 GPA, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations and a minor in Data Science. After graduation, he will spend the summer working at the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee before traveling to India on a Fulbright-Nehru fellowship for student research. Kuzmenchuk will then return to a job in strategy & consulting at Accenture Federal Services.
"I am thrilled to recognize Alek, who has demonstrated exceptional leadership as the National Leader of the Year for Athletics," Jennifer Waller, ODK president and CEO, said. "This award celebrates an individual achievement that impacts and influences across our world."
After three years on the William & Mary Division I men's gymnastics team, Kuzmenchuk served as captain his senior year, leading a group of 18 elite athletes. In 2022, he received the NCAA's ELITE 90 award, which recognizes student-athletes with the highest cumulative grade-point average participating at the finals site for each of the NCAA's 90 championships. He led the team's community service efforts his junior year.
"As much as I have tried to take advantage of leadership opportunities in my college career, this award is really for my gymnastics teammates," Kuzmenchuk said. "Each of them has taught me so much, challenged me, and shown me what teamwork, brotherhood, and leadership mean. I'm grateful that I had the opportunity to be Captain this year, and I am especially grateful that I got to finish up my gymnastics career with such smart, kind, and dedicated guys."
In addition to his athletic pursuits, Kuzmenchuk is the editor-in-chief for William & Mary's Journal of International Studies and served as a research assistant for the William & Mary geoLab. He worked as a student consultant for the U.S. Department of Defense's Innovation for Defense program and as an intern for the U.S. Department of State's Bureau of Conflict and Stabilization Operations. He also worked as a research assistant for the Global Research Institute and a database assistant for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
"I am thrilled that Alek has been selected by ODK for this singular honor," Ginger Ambler, William & Mary ODK circle coordinator, said. "He is an exceptionally accomplished scholar-athlete. Intellectually curious as a student, fiercely determined as a gymnast, and greatly admired as a leader on campus, Alek represents the very best of both W&M and ODK. The Eta Circle could not be more proud."
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