Jessica Bendzick/ Winonan

Every year, as part of its Homecoming celebration, Winona State University and the Alumni Society recognize alumni, faculty and community members for their career accomplishments and the contributions to their communities after they have left Winona State.

On Friday, Oct. 24, the recipients will be recognized at the Distinguished Awards Banquet at the Visions Event Center in Winona.

Director of Alumni Relations, Ann MacDonald, coordinates the entire process.

“It is a really difficult job,” MacDonald said. “Our committee members enjoy being on the committee because they love reading about all the outstanding nominations, but it’s really a difficult challenge.”

“I love all the awards, but I especially love seeing what the young alums have accomplished in the short time since they left the institution,” MacDonald said.

Tasha Schuh, one of this year’s Distinguished Young Alumna recipients, fell 16 feet through a trap door while on the set of her high school’s production of “The Wizard of Oz.” She broke her neck and was left paralyzed from the neck down.

Schuh wrote a book titled, “My Last Step Backward,” which narrates her experience and life since the accident. Now she is a motivational speaker who travels around the country, speaking to thousands of people every year.

“I truly believe, had I not gone to Winona State, that I would not be where I am today,” Schuh said. “I literally am living more of a life now sitting in this wheelchair than before when I was walking. When I found out that they had selected me, I was so emotional. Words cannot express what an honor it is”

In 2012, Schuh received the National Rehabilitation Champion Award, and became the fifth “Ms. Wheelchair USA” in July of the same year.

“In these last 11 years since graduating from Winona State, I’ve just learned life is really what you make it,” Schuh said. “I realized I didn’t have to walk to be happy. I didn’t have to walk to live a fulfilling life. I could do that sitting in a wheelchair.”

MacDonald said the distinguished alumni are selected based off what they have done in their professional and community life, as well as the contributions of time, talent and treasure they give back to Winona State.

“The purpose of these awards is to highlight the individuals who have graduated from Winona State,” Macdonald said, “and how they’ve utilized the knowledge and the experience that they received here. Also, they are an inspiration to current students to see what the value of their education is and can be.”

Each spring the committee, comprised of members of the Alumni Society Board of Directors, gets together to review the nominees, a process that has been happening since 1983.

Each recipient receives a replica of the presidential medallion, with his or her name engraved on the back.

Graduates can be nominated online on the Winona State website via nomination forms.