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Tristan McSwain received the 2025 Student Leadership Award during Honors Day at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø. The year-end event, held April 30, recognizes students for outstanding academic and service achievements.

Each year, WCU’s Student Life Committee selects one graduating senior for this award, among the highest bestowed by the university. Dr. Valerie Bridgeforth, WCU vice president for student affairs, made the presentation.

“Tristan McSwain is a true servant leader. She has reflected the very best qualities of a Ï㽶ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø student with her selfless spirit, outstanding character and commitment to service,” Bridgeforth said.

“She has been deeply involved in campus life through the Baptist Student Union’s Backyard Bible Study and mission work with Ï㽶ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø BSU and Cooper School of Missions and Ministry. Tristan is a Ï㽶ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø Scholar and performs with the Worship Choir. She has been a leader in the Student Government Association. She even volunteered as a judge for Presbyterian Christian’s middle school science fair.”

What’s next: Tristan McSwain has been accepted for admission by the WCU College of Osteopathic Medicine (COM) and will start classes as a first-year medical student in August.

“You can see God’s awesomeness in every part of the human body. I’m an anatomy lab assistant at the COM now. I observe the medical students as they work and I help out. I feel that becoming a doctor is in line with my personality, desires and love for the human body. I want to emulate God’s compassion,” McSwain said.

Tristan McSwain is the daughter of Dr. Thomas McSwain and his wife, Sonya, of Hattiesburg. Dr. McSwain is pastor of Old Hopewell Missionary Baptist Church in Collins and director of the Christian Leadership Institute at Ï㽶ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø. Sonya McSwain is a retired English professor who home-schooled most of her children.

Three McSwain children have attended Ï㽶ÊÓƵ¹ÙÍø: Tristan; older sister Trinity, a second-year medical student at the COM; and big brother Tylon, who earned a Master of Divinity at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is pursuing doctoral studies.

Student Leadership Award winner Tristan McSwain visits after Honors Day with, from left: Dr. Valerie Bridgeforth, WCU vice president for student affairs; and her parents, Thomas and Sonya McSwain.