{"id":60881,"date":"2026-04-10T12:55:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-10T16:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?p=60881"},"modified":"2026-04-09T14:57:17","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T18:57:17","slug":"emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/","title":{"rendered":"EMU announces 2026 Cords of Distinction honorees"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Ten graduating seniors are Eastern Mennonite University&#8217;s <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/emu.edu\/studentlife\/cords-of-distinction\/\">2026 Cords of Distinction<\/a> <\/strong>recipients. They will wear blue and gold cords signifying their achievement during the 2026 Commencement. A special ceremony honoring the recipients will be held on Friday, April 24, at 10:10 a.m. in Martin Chapel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Cords of Distinction Award honors the efforts of up to 10 graduating students each year who have made outstanding contributions to the university, community, or society. It was established in 2000 to recognize and honor graduates who have demonstrated creative learning and achievement, exemplary leadership and engagement across communities, and a commitment to the <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/president\/mission\">values of the university<\/a>: academic excellence, peace and justice, and active faith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cords are blue and gold. Blue honors the strength of conviction that one person can help restore hope across communities. Gold celebrates excellence and the courage to practice and pursue peace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>The 2026 Cords of Distinction recipients are:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022 Sophia Armato<\/strong>, with majors in Spanish language &amp; Hispanic studies and education (PreK\u201312) licensure from Manheim, Pennsylvania;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> <strong>Leah Beachy<\/strong>, a nursing major from Salem, Oregon;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> <strong>Arelys Martinez<\/strong>, with majors in Spanish language &amp; Hispanic studies and education (PreK\u201312) licensure from Winchester, Virginia;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> <strong>Genesis Figueroa<\/strong>, with majors in political science and Spanish language &amp; Hispanic studies from Millersburg, Ohio;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> <strong>Leah Frankenfield<\/strong>, a psychology major from Moraga, California;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> <strong>Dibora Mekonnen<\/strong>, with majors in political science and social work from Silver Spring, Maryland;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> <strong>Emily Suarez Nunez<\/strong>, a nursing major from McGaheysville, Virginia; <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> <strong>Irais Barrera Pinzon<\/strong>, with majors in political science and Spanish language &amp; Hispanic studies from Richmond, Virginia;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> <strong>Sarah Prroj<\/strong>, a business administration major from Harrisonburg, Virginia; and<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2022<\/strong> <strong>Roumany Sefin<\/strong>, with majors in business administration and medical lab science from Harrisonburg, Virginia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div style=\"height:10px\" aria-hidden=\"true\" class=\"wp-block-spacer\"><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-medium-font-size\"><strong>Nominees are:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u2022 Miranda Beidler<br \/>\u2022 Nia Boyd<br \/>\u2022 Kylik Bradshaw<br \/>\u2022 Chase Comer<br \/>\u2022 Anne Marie Cornelius<br \/>\u2022 Zazkia De la Vega<br \/>\u2022 Benjamin Friesen Guhr<br \/>\u2022 Madelynn Hamm<br \/>\u2022 Jackie Jackson<br \/>\u2022 Sara Kennel<br \/>\u2022 Lydia Longacre<br \/>\u2022 Maria Longenecker<br \/>\u2022 Ethan Neufeld<br \/>\u2022 Jenna Oostland<br \/>\u2022 Royale Parker<br \/>\u2022 Marianne Short<br \/>\u2022 Eli Stoll<br \/>\u2022 John Stover<br \/>\u2022 Joshua Stucky<br \/>\u2022 Levi Stutzman<br \/>\u2022 Guadalupe Tenorio Ramirez<br \/>\u2022 Erik Wilkinson<br \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ten graduating seniors are Eastern Mennonite University&#8217;s 2026 Cords of Distinction recipients. They will wear blue and gold cords signifying their achievement during the 2026 Commencement. A special ceremony honoring <a href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/\" target=\"_self\" class=\"more-link\">... read more <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">about EMU announces 2026 Cords of Distinction honorees<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":302,"featured_media":61145,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4515,5583,16077,17562,14139,5730],"tags":[18221,5854,18986,6733,10945],"feature":[17427,17426,17241,17422],"class_list":["post-60881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-campus-community","category-commencement-alumni","category-digest","category-student-profiles","category-undergraduate-programs","tag-academic-excellence","tag-commencement","tag-commencement-2026","tag-cords-of-distinction","tag-students","feature-emu-home-page-feature","feature-myemu-feature","feature-news-feature","feature-news-landing-page-main-feature"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>EMU announces 2026 Cords of Distinction honorees - EMU News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"EMU announces 2026 Cords of Distinction honorees - EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ten graduating seniors are Eastern Mennonite University&#8217;s 2026 Cords of Distinction recipients. They will wear blue and gold cords signifying their achievement during the 2026 Commencement. A special ceremony honoring\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMU News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-10T16:55:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/09105438\/2026-Cords-of-Distinction-Recipients.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"854\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@EMU_News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Ryan Cornell\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/\",\"name\":\"EMU announces 2026 Cords of Distinction honorees - EMU News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/09105438\/2026-Cords-of-Distinction-Recipients.jpeg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-10T16:55:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/09105438\/2026-Cords-of-Distinction-Recipients.jpeg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/09105438\/2026-Cords-of-Distinction-Recipients.jpeg\",\"width\":1280,\"height\":854,\"caption\":\"2026 EMU Cords of Distinction Recipients Photos: EMU\/Macson McGuigan.\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"EMU announces 2026 Cords of Distinction honorees\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/\",\"name\":\"EMU News\",\"description\":\"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf\",\"name\":\"Ryan Cornell\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"EMU announces 2026 Cords of Distinction honorees - EMU News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"EMU announces 2026 Cords of Distinction honorees - EMU News","og_description":"Ten graduating seniors are Eastern Mennonite University&#8217;s 2026 Cords of Distinction recipients. They will wear blue and gold cords signifying their achievement during the 2026 Commencement. A special ceremony honoring","og_url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/","og_site_name":"EMU News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/EasternMennonite","article_published_time":"2026-04-10T16:55:00+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1280,"height":854,"url":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/09105438\/2026-Cords-of-Distinction-Recipients.jpeg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Ryan Cornell","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@EMU_News","twitter_site":"@EMU_News","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Ryan Cornell","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/","name":"EMU announces 2026 Cords of Distinction honorees - EMU News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/09105438\/2026-Cords-of-Distinction-Recipients.jpeg","datePublished":"2026-04-10T16:55:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/09105438\/2026-Cords-of-Distinction-Recipients.jpeg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/emu-wordpress-multisite-instance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2026\/03\/09105438\/2026-Cords-of-Distinction-Recipients.jpeg","width":1280,"height":854,"caption":"2026 EMU Cords of Distinction Recipients Photos: EMU\/Macson McGuigan."},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/2026\/emu-announces-2026-cords-of-distinction-honorees\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"EMU announces 2026 Cords of Distinction honorees"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/","name":"EMU News","description":"News from the Eastern Mennonite University community.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/4d24e9770fdab8276fbcf29504123fdf","name":"Ryan Cornell"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/302"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60881"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60881\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":61154,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60881\/revisions\/61154"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/61145"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60881"},{"taxonomy":"feature","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/emu.edu\/now\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/feature?post=60881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}