Luis Enrique Otero Devoz was announced Class of 2025’s Outstanding Senior at the Nov. 9 Homecoming football game. Nine other seniors were honored at the game for being the top 10 finalists. Devoz said he was grateful and excited for being chosen for this award.
“I am incredibly honored and humbled to be named Outstanding Senior. This recognition means the world to me, as it reflects the support and encouragement of the Vanderbilt community that has become my second family,” Devoz said.
Outstanding seniors are selected on the basis of their contributions to the Vanderbilt community, leadership and academic achievement.
Campus involvement
Raychael Gross, president of the Black Cultural Center ambassadors, cofounded Bold and the Beautiful, a student organization dedicated to creating space on campus for plus-sized Black women. Gross described a meaningful experience she had at one of their organization’s events when an attendee expressed her gratitude.
“She was very grateful that me and my friend started a club where she felt like she was seen and heard and also a club with other girls who had the same shared experience as her,” Gross said.
Karim Elmehdawi, co-founder of the Career Center Student Ambassador Program, worked to make career and professional resource development more accessible to students on campus.
“Usually student organizations or pre-professional organizations that are really exclusive dominate who gets resources and peer mentorship,” Elmehdawi said. “The student program at the Career Center combats this by allowing student workers to serve as mentors for all students who are really invested in their professional development.”
Salwa Daouk González, the first Muslim president of the Association of Latin American Students, said she took pride in her service for the Latino community at Vanderbilt.
“Getting to be president of ALAS, being able to launch our advocacy program, pushing for more inclusive ways of looking at the Latino community and being able to address all the different intersections that exist through a much wider more diverse range of programming has been really cool,” González said.
Nicholas McCoy, President of Kappa Delta Pi Educators Honors Society, said he is proud of the inclusive spaces he was able to build with the organization.
“The biggest mission is supporting pre-service teachers and current teachers through programming efforts, fundraising and creating a space where people in Peabody can come, talk and discuss their issues,” McCoy said.
Solmin Kim has been a VUceptor for three years. She served as Training Chair from 2022-2023 and was the President of VUcept in 2023-2024. According to Kim, VUcept was going through a difficult time before and during the early parts of her involvement with the organization. She said she took action to address the issues and said the organization helped her learn how to be an effective leader.
“[Working with VUcept] was very special for me. My vice president and I had the main goal to build cohort cohesion and trust. I spent a lot of time getting to know people one on one,” Kim said. During her time at Vanderbilt Grace Jones was able to found a competitive gymnastics club at Vanderbilt. It opened during the 2023 spring and now has around 30 active members of varying levels, some of them even competing now without prior experience.
Jones said that gymnastics can be a very cost-prohibitive sport and that can prevent people from trying it out. However, she said that Vanderbilt provides the necessary monetary support to help more people explore the sport.
“Dr. Alison Leich Hilbun is our advisor right now. She was super supportive and super helpful getting [the gymnastics club] set up. Having Experience Vanderbilt and other support from Vandy has been instrumental in making it [the club] a reality,” Jones said.
Devoz said his most rewarding experience at Vanderbilt was serving as a Residential Adviser on Commons for three consecutive years.
“When you see all this talent and all these incredible people come to this place that have worked so hard to get here, you see what makes Vanderbilt special in the flesh,” Devos said. “You get to really break your shell. It is every current generation that I have had the privilege to have been in contact with.”
Plans after Vanderbilt
Devoz said he was able to overcome the hardships of career development for international students and intern at JP Morgan several times. He plans to work for the company after his graduation.
“I was getting continuously rejected by companies due to the fact that they were not able to sponsor me as an international student. Thankfully due to the people I networked with and the people in DSP that were guiding me, we pinpointed the opportunities that would actually accept my application,” Devoz said. “After about a year of applying, I was able to get my sophomore internship with JP Morgan.”
Devoz also reflected on his recognition as an outstanding senior, thanking the Vanderbilt community for the support and encouragement he received and providing some encouragement of his own.
“Embrace opportunities to give back and don’t be afraid to dream big. Remember that leadership is about serving others and creating a lasting, positive impact that will benefit future generations,” Devoz said.
He encouraged current students to lead with authenticity and embrace opportunities to give back while also thanking his family and the Vanderbilt community for their support.
“Remember that leadership is about serving others and creating a lasting, positive impact that will benefit future generations,” Devoz said. “I owe immense gratitude to my parents in Colombia for their unwavering support as I’ve pursued my dreams far from home. Mentors like Professor Dyke, my Area Coordinator Megan and my Faculty Head of House Celso have profoundly shaped my journey. Additionally, my experiences as President of Delta Sigma Pi and as a Resident Adviser have been instrumental in fostering my growth and dedication to our community.”
Giving back to the community
Devoz is currently writing a professional development self-improvement book dedicated to Vanderbilt students as his Chancellor’s Scholars project. The book is projected to be published by the middle of Spring 2025.
“Professor Jonathan Dyke is absolutely amazing and is helping me out with my project.,” Devoz said. “Thanks to Vanderbilt being generous enough to fund this project and the mentorship of professor Dyke, I am able to write a book that is directly intended to give back to the Vanderbilt community.”
Emerson Pereira got involved with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, where she helped improve the English language tutoring program by adapting what she learned during her study abroad program in Barcelona.Pereiras talked about the benefits of Vanderbilt’s Ingram Scholars program.
“The Ingram Scholars Program had the largest impact on me. The faculty of the program really push you to think outside of your own perception of the world,” Pereira said. “They connected me with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, which is an organization I served with for the past year and a half.”
Advice to underclassmen
Sam Ellis, vice president of Financial Inclusivity Education and Awareness at Experience Vanderbilt during his first and junior years, encouraged students to foster meaningful relationships with their peers and to live in the moment.
“Take your time when you’re here. It’s kind of cliche, but these four years really do go by quickly. The experiences you have with your friends might be more impactful experiences [than] doing homework at night,” Ellis said.“Take time to put energy into your friends and relationships that you build during college because those are things that are really going to last after you graduate.”
Noah Weitzel, a secondary education and molecular and cellular biology major, shared advice he’d learned throughout his years at Vanderbilt. Weitzel serves as deputy opinion editor for the Hustler.
“You’re going to make so many mistakes, and that’s okay. How you rebound from that, communicate with others and find a new way forward — that makes all the difference. Most importantly, that journey of rebounding doesn’t have to be done alone,” Weitzel said. “Take advantage of well-being resources even if the process may initially be scary or uncomfortable.”
Pereira also talked about the importance of relationships fostered during one’s time at Vanderbilt.
“You meet your people when you are meant to meet them. Build on those spontaneous relationships. Don’t be afraid to meet new people of different backgrounds. I think there is something very meaningful about meeting a classmate who shared a similar passion. Build off of those similar passions,” Kim said.
Jones shared a piece of wisdom she heard from someone regarding priorities during one’s time at Vanderbilt.
“You are going to be juggling rubber and glass balls,” Jones said. “You are gonna be dropping some balls, so make sure you don’t smash the glass ones.”
When asked about what he wished he had known before becoming a senior, Devoz talked about how important it is to be open to new opportunities.
“I wish I would’ve known that life is not a straight line. If you embrace life with an open mindset you will be much happier and life will bring you to opportunities you maybe have never even dreamed of,” Devoz said.
