Nine students and recent graduates of the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, have been named Torchbearers — the university’s highest undergraduate student honor — in recognition of their leadership, service and Volunteer spirit.
The Torchbearer designation shines a spotlight on those who bring the university’s Volunteer Creed to life: “One that beareth a torch shadoweth oneself to give light to others.”
Each new Torchbearer learned of their award through a surprise celebration with their friends, classmates, professors and mentors. University leaders arrived to honor these exceptional Volunteers in the presence of the communities they inspire.
Meet the recipients
Marlena Alexander of Knoxville will graduate in May with a degree in materials science and engineering. A member of the 1794 Scholars honors program, she is a Goldwater Scholar and a Fulbright Scholarship semifinalist. Alexander has received numerous awards from the Tickle College of Engineering’s Department of Materials Science and Engineering, where she is an academic ambassador and has served as programming chair for the professional student organization Material Advantage. For her leadership in that group, she was named Outstanding Executive Board Member at UT’s 2024 Student Engagement Awards. She also serves as student board member and publicity chair for the Oak Ridge chapter of ASM International, an association for raw materials engineers and scientists.
“Being a Torchbearer means building communities and systems that will continue to serve long after you graduate, because the light you carry does not belong to you alone — it belongs to every Volunteer who came before you and every Volunteer who will come after,” Alexander said. “That is the commitment I have tried to honor at UT, and it is the commitment I will carry with me beyond graduation.”
Alice-Grace Beavers of Athens, Tennessee, is studying food science with a concentration in medicine and a minor in pre-health professions. She will graduate in May after defending her honors undergraduate research thesis on the relationship between travel time to a hospital, food insecurity and tumor size at diagnosis among breast cancer patients in Appalachia. Beavers is a Peyton Manning Scholar, a Haslam Leadership Scholar and a Distinguished Tennessean Scholarship recipient. In addition to serving as a UT campus ambassador and college ambassador for the Herbert College of Agriculture, she founded and serves as president of the UT Medical Center Ambassadors. She served as the vice president of philanthropy for Alpha Gamma Delta sorority; a member of the Council on Undergraduate Research Advocacy; a student alumni associate for the Office of Alumni Relations; a member of the Food Science Club serving as national Institute of Food Technologists representative; and a reviewer for UT’s undergraduate research journal, Pursuit. Beavers also served in the Student Government Association and has completed volunteer service with Meals on Wheels, Love Kitchen and UT Medical Center.
Sana Boghani of Farragut, Tennessee, graduated summa cum laude in December 2025 with a degree in communication studies and is now pursuing a Master of Public Health degree at UT with a concentration in community health education. As an undergraduate, she was a member of the Chancellor’s Honors Program and served as a Land Ambassador for the College of Communication and Information. Through UT’s Jones Center for Leadership and Service, she served in the Ignite program — an extended orientation experience for first-year students — spending two years as a team leader and one year as student director of experience. Boghani received graduation recognition for excellence in undergraduate research and for completing 435 hours of community service during her undergraduate career – 210 hours more than required to receive the university’s Gold Service Medallion.
Emily Giacini of Smithtown, New York, will graduate in May with a degree in social work. She has been a College of Social Work ambassador since 2024, currently serving as president of the program, and she was a committee director for Alpha Omega Epsilon professional STEM sorority. Giacini has held multiple leadership roles in the Bachelor of Social Work Organization, including serving as the current vice president, and VOLthon, UT’s largest student-led fundraiser, benefiting Dolly Parton Children’s Hospital. Giacini has been a peer mentor and advocacy intern for the FUTURE Program and a member of the Baker School Student Association. She is a member of the Social Work Honors program and the Phi Alpha Honor Society, and she was summa cum laude on the dean’s list for six consecutive semesters. During her time at UT, she has completed more than 200 community service hours and more than 400 hours at her field placement with Magnolia Harbor Carefarm.
Hannah Haston of Dandridge, Tennessee, will graduate in May with a degree in management from the Haslam College of Business. She has been named to the dean’s list with a 4.0 GPA every semester at UT, earning her the distinctions of being a Top Graduate and a Volunteer of Distinction within the business college. Haston has held numerous leadership roles in Kappa Delta sorority, which she most recently served as president. She has also held leadership positions in the Kappa Alpha Pi prelaw and government professional fraternity and is a member of the Psi Society and the Order of Omega national Greek leadership honor society. During her time at UT, Haston has completed 125 community service hours — with plans to reach 175 hours by graduation — at a variety of organizations including Sevier Heights Baptist Church, ChildHelp, Jefferson County Schools, Habitat for Humanity and Ladies of Charity. She also serves as spokeswoman of the Lowell Luther Woods Foundation, a scholarship initiative advocating for high-performing students in low-income districts in Eastern Tennessee.
Justin Henley of Brentwood, Tennessee, will graduate in May with degrees in computer science from the Tickle College of Engineering and neuroscience from the College of Arts and Sciences. He is a University Honors 1794 Scholar and has earned UT’s Gold Service Medallion. He is a founder of UT’s chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity, has been a member of the Psi Society and has held multiple leadership roles on the Interfraternity Council. Henley has been an Ignite team leader and has served in leadership roles in the Advancement of Neuroscience Club and his senior design team in the Min H. Kao Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science. He is a medical assistant at UT Medical Center in the UT Health Science Center Internal Medicine and OBGYN Clinic.
Jerome Jarjoura of Kingsport, Tennessee, will graduate this spring with two degrees: one in neuroscience and the other in stem cell biology and regenerative medicine, through a program that he designed in the College of Arts and Sciences’ College Scholars Program. He has served as an Ignite team leader, Leadership Knoxville Scholar, campus ambassador, Student Trained Admissions Representative, and president of the Advancement of Neuroscience at UTK, and he founded the Middle Eastern North African Student Association. Serving for the past four years at the Tennessee Memory Disorders Foundation and volunteering at Howard Circle of Friends, he has cared for and developed relationships with hundreds of older adults with Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. Jarjoura has conducted biomedical research at the UT College of Veterinary Medicine, the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School (as a Harvard Amgen Scholar). He is a Fulbright Scholarship semifinalist and was named to the dean’s list with a 4.0 GPA every semester while at UT.
Jourdan “J.T.” Thomas of Montgomery, Alabama, will graduate in May with a degree in sport management from the College of Education, Health, and Human Sciences. Thomas played defensive back for UT football until a career-ending injury in 2024 and has continued to serve the team as a member of its Leadership Council and a student assistant coach. He participated in the VOLeaders Academy and served on the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, and he is a board member for the student-athlete council V.O.I.C.E. (Volunteers Overcoming, Illuminating, Changing, Empowering). As a member of 1tenn Campus Ministry, he helps serve meals to individuals experiencing homelessness and has completed more than 200 volunteer hours. Thomas is a recipient of UT football’s Inky Johnson Spirit of Courage Award and was named to the SEC Academic Honor Roll three times.
“I am so honored to be a part of this,” Thomas said. “A Torchbearer is not someone who demands attention but someone who serves, encourages and leads with character when no one is clapping. It is choosing to be a steady presence, a positive voice and a person who does what is right because it is right.”
Marlon Tully of Memphis will graduate in May with a degree in psychology on a pre-law track from the College of Arts and Sciences and a minor in human development and family sciences. Tully has held a variety of leadership roles in the VolCorps program, which he currently serves as student ambassador president, and in Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity, where he is dean of membership. During his time at UT he has served as president of Future Minority Leaders of Justice and held memberships in the Black Student Union, the Student Government Association, Rocky Top Roundtable, the Multicultural Mentoring Program, the Undergraduate Association of Forensic Science and the Order of Omega. He is a UT Promise Scholarship recipient and has received both the UT Ambassadors Impact Award and the UT NAACP Hidden Gem Award.
The newly named Torchbearers will be among those recognized at the Chancellor’s Honors Banquet in April.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Stacy Estep (865-974-8304, sestep3@utk.edu)