2025 CSB Reunion Awards

The CSB Alumnae Board, on behalf of College of Saint Benedict, presents Reunion Awards to outstanding alumnae from reunion years whose daily lives reflect and honor the Benedictine tradition and mission of our alma mater. Nominations are accepted each year. For more information regarding the nomination process, please contact the Alumnae Relations Office.

Annie Luke McCue ’15 – Decade Award

Annie Luke McCue ’15 arrived at Saint Ben’s with plans for a pre-pharmacy path. But “as a chem major who was pre-pharm, I just gradually grew more enamored with the chemistry part,” explains this year’s Decade Award winner. “I had no idea when I arrived at Saint Ben’s how intricate chemistry was – how many disciplines there are, and how those disciplines meld together. That’s what science is, it’s this marriage of all these different aspects coming together for new discovery.”

It was CSB and SJU Professor Alicia Peterson “who was the first to tell me, ‘I think you’d be a great college professor,’” Annie recalls. “She really motivated me and I got started job shadowing her in a way when I was in her classroom. What does she teach? And how does she teach it?”

One thing Annie learned is that research is the best way for students to get hands-on experience and tackle world problems that matter. “No one’s ever done this thing before – that’s the whole point. And for an undergraduate student to feel like a true expert on something that’s never been done? It’s a very powerful thing.”

Today, with her Ph.D. and a tenure-track position at the University of St. Thomas, Annie gets the chance to play the role Professor Peterson played for her in the lives of new generations of women and men in chemistry. She’s able to help them find paths that fit their skills and passions. “A lot of my students are interested in graduate school,” she says, “but others fit into other preprofessional programs or into industry. It’s really teaching to the student and to what their ambitions are.”

Maxine Storr Seymour ’00 – Benedictine Service Award

Maxxine Storr Seymour ’00, the 2025 Benedictine Service Award winner, knows how to get things done.

“I am very big on inclusion and things being fair. And, eventually, I realized that the only way to truly make a difference is to become a legislator. Because while there are other paths to helping create a better world … ultimately you still depend on the legislators to make certain decisions.”

So, in 2021, she ran for the House of Assembly in her home country of The Bahamas. And, while she didn’t win her House race, she ended up being appointed to one of the Senate seats reserved for members of the opposition party.

Since then she has quickly become a leading advocate in The Bahamas for women, children, the elderly and people with disabilities.

Today, she’s working for tangible wins like holding the government accountable for its commitment to build a women’s shelter for victims of intimate partner violence. But she also continues to fight bigger-picture fights like the discrimination against women in the country’s citizenship laws.

Maxine’s time at Saint Ben’s was important. She loved the presence of the Sisters. She found closeness to God in the four seasons. But living as a minority broadened her perspective.

“Being at Saint Ben’s helped remind me that we’re all just human beings and we’re equal,” she says. “I did experience prejudice. But it helped drive my passion to ensure that people aren’t discriminated against for any reason. And we bridge that gap a little bit between each other, regardless of our differences.”

Angela Untiedt Jerabek ’90 – Distinguished Alumna

This year’s Distinguished Alumna Award winner, Angela Untiedt Jerabek ’90, was working as a guidance counselor in 1998 and growing steadily more frustrated watching over half of her high school’s freshman class fail courses year in and year out.

“I thought there was no way this should be happening,” she recalls. “I knew these students and I’d seen how capable they were. I knew my colleagues were amazing. There had to be a solution.”

That solution lay in the form of the BARR (Building Assets, Reducing Risks) Model – a system Angela developed that provides teachers with the opportunity to understand the whole student, not just the portion they are able to see in the classroom.

“Too often, we found our education system was operating in silos,” she says. “Our goal was to disrupt those silos, increase communication and give educators an idea of what the barriers are so they can figure out solutions that will be effective.”

The model was first implemented in 1999 at St. Louis Park, the Twin Cities suburban high school where Angela was working at the time. Its track record of success has allowed it to grow to the point it has now been implemented in 350 schools across 22 states.