Vijay is remembered by faculty, his graduate student colleagues, and his undergraduate students for his effervescence and optimism. Times may have been hard, but never so difficult as to stifle his spontaneous roar of laughter or a comment of “No Problem”. After all, despite the petty tribulations of the day, life is good, isn’t it? Vijay traveled the hallways making everyone in his path feel better, providing a sense of perspective and a love of life.
These attributes made him the model Teaching Assistant. Vijay was equally passionate in his love for humanity in general, the New England Patriots, and virtually any individual he came in contact with. Imagine how fortunate the undergraduate, perhaps far from home for the first time, perhaps with troubles of her or his own to deal with, to have Vijay as a teacher. Vijay struggled early as an undergraduate, persevered, and became a model of strength as his confidence matured. He related to his students as individuals, could recognize the special problems they were sometimes having, and would help them both academically and spiritually.
Vijay was the greatest, and so are the Teaching Assistants of Distinction named in his memory. This award is endowed through the generosity of Vijay's parents, Anuradha and V.S. (Manny) Bhagavan, in memory of their beloved son.
Give to the Resource Economics Department in Honor of Vijay Bhagavan
To make a contribution, call the Development Office at 866-450-UMASS or visit the secure UMass Amherst website to contribute online. Thank you!
The Vijay Bhagavan Teaching Assistant of Distinction Award Recipients
2023:Prashikdivya (Prashik) Gajbhiye: Prashik Gajbhiye joined the department as a PhD student in the Fall of 2019. He has had extensive TA experience and has even taught two online classes - ResEc 102 Introduction to Resource Economics and ResEc 262 Environmental Economics. Particularly though Prashik is being recognized for his work as the TA for ResEc 452 Industrial Organization. He has acted as the Teaching Assistant for this course for several semesters and for multiple instructors including Drs. Bauner, Lavoie, Singh, and Spraggon. All of these instructors have been deeply impressed with his commitment to his students. They applaud Prashik for going above and beyond what was required of him and significantly improving the learning outcomes of his students. Given his exceptional dedication, and concern for student success he is highly deserving of the Bhagavan Teaching Award.
2023: Mehak Kaushik: Mehak Kaushik joined the department as a PhD student in Fall 2018. She has extensive TA experience and has taught ResEEc 213 Intermediate Statistics for Business and Economics online multiple times. Mehak is being recognized as a TA for both Res-Econ 102 and Res-Econ 202. Both 102 and 202 are core courses for the major and Mehak was instrumental in both the students' and instructors' successes. Serving as a TA for two courses is quite challenging as it requires juggling two sets of course materials and about 276 students at different stages of their undergraduate career. In addition, the two classes involved a wide variety of duties including office hours, grading, and leading discussion sessions. She rose to the challenge and excelled in her role.
Res-Econ 102 is a challenging assignment as it involves guiding over 200 students, most of which are first-year students who are getting acquainted with college-level coursework and a new environment. For many students, it is also their first course in economics which can be challenging. She was able to proactively anticipate the students' needs, host weekly office hours, provide valuable feedback on assignments and exams, and serve as a resource for an undergraduate TA. Further, she was willing to offer helpful insights from her prior experience as a TA for this course.
In Res-Econ 202, Mehak's main tasks were holding weekly discussion sessions and office hours. Many students struggle with 202 because it is the first time in their academic careers that they get exposed to the formal mathematical models that drive much of economic analysis. Mehak did a wonderful job engaging with students and helping them internalize the covered material. Outside of weekly discussions on the topics to be covered, Mehak operated largely independently and to great success: Numerous students made extremely positive comments about her work with them. For example, one student who received an A- in the course and ho had a nearly perfect attendance record for the class stated that she "rescued" him by filling his gaps in understanding.
It became clear early in the semester that Mehak was absolutely student-focused, taking pride in her role as educator. She contributed in numerous roles and was an integral part in the success of our two classes. It is clear that Mehak is more than deserving of the Bhagavan Teaching Award.
2022: Jing Gan (PhD Candidate). Jing joined the department as a PhD student in the Fall of 2018. He has been an excellent TA from the start. In particular, Jing has done excellent work with ResEc 452 and has stood out as a TA in many ways. Jing is proactive about helping the instructors as well as the students. For example, he has put together a guide to help students with how to answer certain homework questions. This was his own idea and he implemented it with minimal input from the course instructors. This guidance has resulted in students doing much better on these assignments. He has been a good, reliable grader and taken on a leadership role when sharing duties with less experienced TAs. Jing took over the end of a class during Fall 2020 on Zoom when there were technical difficulties, displaying a high degree of expertise in a difficult situation. Jing has put impressive effort into his work on 452. Even during weeks with very heavy grading duties, he has performed at an extremely high level of quality. It is clear that Jing is an exceptional candidate for the Bhagavan Teaching Assistant of Distinction Award.
2022: Gayan Udugama (PhD Candidate). Gayan joined the department as a PhD student in Fall 2018. He is a delightful and caring person who has helped many students throughout the years. With a heart-warning smile, he is always patient with all their questions during TA hours. For the routine task of grading assignments, he goes beyond the call of duty: He is keen to observe and discover the reasoning behind each student's right or wrong answers. He brings his observations to discuss with the class instructors, which opens the door to better future instruction design and, ultimately, leads to the great improvement of the student's understanding. Gayan cares about his role as a teaching assistant and does everything he can to help elevate the learning and teaching at the Resource Economics Department to be the most rewarding experience for all. His contribution to the department deserves our highest recognition for teaching assistantship: The Vijay Bhagavan Teaching Assistant of Distinction Award.
2021: Dhiroj Koirala (PhD Candidate). Dhiroj received a BS in Forestry from the Institute of Forestry (IOF), Nepal, and an MS in Environment and Natural Resource Economics (ENRE) from the University of Rhode Island (URI). His research interests are in the field of Environment Economics and Development. He has been working on the topics of the welfare consequences of unreliable electricity supply and energy poverty and to understand the choice between leasing and owning the residential solar panels. Dhiroj was the head TA for ResEc 212 in Spring 2021. This is a significant responsibility, coordinating the other TA’s and being the first point of contact for the 450 students enrolled in ResEc 212. Dhiroj did an exceptional job! We received many notes from students highlighting just how exceptional a TA Dhiroj was! It was clear from this feedback that Dhiroj truly cares about his students, and that he is an exceptional candidate for the Vijay Bhagavan Teaching Assistant of Distinction Award.
2020: Joshua Reed (MS Candidate). Josh joined our MSc program in the Fall of 2018. He was immediately assigned to TA for Dr. Gayle’s Res-Econ 212 Stats class. He TA’d for Dr. Gayle throughout his time in the Department. Dr. Gayle teaches statistics to 600 students each semester in the Team Based Learning rooms. The TAs are directly involved in the Team Based Learning classes; they run discussion sections to guide students through the project; and they help manage the massive midterm exam effort!
We are very grateful to our TAs for these efforts! Therefore, when I received the response to the query about nominations for the Vijay Bhagavan award and Dr. Gayle responded – Josh Reed deserves this award – we were done!
Congratulations Josh! This award is well deserved!
2020: Onupurba Das (PhD Candidate). Onupurba Das joined our PhD program in Fall 2017. Since then she has been one of our top TAs every year.
She has also taught multiple courses including an Online summer course in Environmental Economics, and the Department’s first year seminar course. Onu was the TA for Dr. Morzuch’s Res-Econ 213 class in Spring 2020. This was the term that the Covid pandemic interrupted in-class teaching and moved us online for the second half of the semester. Dr. Morzuch reports that Onu was phenomenal. She held office hours on a weekly basis, conducted three discussion sessions per week, hand-graded two exams prior to the university closing, and developed two more exams using the Moodle Quizzes format after the university closed. After March 12, she made herself available to students through Zoom. Congratulations Onu! We appreciate your contributions to our students’ experience!
2019: Ezgi Cengiz (PhD Candidate). Ezgi joined us from Istanbul University in Turkey in the Fall of 2015 where she earned a B.A. in Economics. She has been an integral part of our community ever since.
Ezgi has integrated herself into the food and health centered projects being conducted by our Industrial Organization group. She has projects underway that include investigating the relationship between advertising and market structure in the US Retail Beer market, the evolution of diet quality, and the impact of soda taxes in Philadelphia. These projects highlight her commitment to making the world a better place.
Ezgi has primarily been a Teaching Assistant for our senior industrial organization and public policy courses during her time with us. In Fall 2018 she had the opportunity to teach Introduction to Microeconomics in the University’s Residential Academic Program (RAP). Ezgi took this opportunity very seriously meeting with her mentor weekly to ensure that she was as well prepared as possible. In addition to this Ezgi devoted a large portion of her teaching efforts to help struggling students succeed in the class. This commitment and dedication paid off as Ezgi earned course evaluations that were among the best in the department.
We commend Ezgi on her efforts and commitment to her students! She is clearly an ideal recipient of the Vijay Bhagavan Teaching Assistant of Distinction Award!
2018: Emma Grazier (PhD Candidate). Emma came to us from Albuquerque, New Mexico. She graduated from the University of New Mexico with a degree in Economics and a minor in Math. In New Mexico she also did research on natural and human-caused disasters at Sandia National Lab. She has apparently adapted well to our New England weather and has quickly become a valued member of our Resource Economics family.
Emma is working on two research projects with Dr. de Oliveira, Dr. Rong and Dr. Crago. Her research focuses on application of experimental methods to address mitigation of interpersonal risks and solar adoption. Her high quality work has made her a grad student in demand and we lost her services as an excellent TA this academic year.
Emma was the head TA for Introductory Statistics. She was excellent in communicating with students. Her calm yet energetic disposition commanded respect from the students, without demanding it. Emma's depth of subject matter knowledge enabled her to explain the same concepts in a variety of ways, a valuable skill given the heterogeneity in preparation with which students enter the course. Emma also has impeccable administrative skills. Her ability to manage OWL deadlines and communicate with the OWL administrators is among the best the Department has had.
Emma’s careful work and concern for the students, her ability to communicate, her willingness to work hard and stay calm under pressure made her the perfect student-TA and instructor’s-TA. She is most deserving of a Vijay Bhagavan Teaching Assistant of Distinction Award. Congratulation Emma.
2018: Andrew Shepherd (MS Candidate). Andrew completed his undergraduate degree in Resource Economics. He took his first Resource Economics course Fall 2013 and joined our major for spring 2014. He was a regular on the Dean’s list (the good list) and sailed through many of our courses.
Andrew began our MS program as an undergraduate – our first 4+1 student. He completed his BS degree in May 2017 and his MS in May 2018. All this and he was a volunteer fireman for the Town of Amherst as well. Andrew was devoted to his studies, his work, and his community. It has been fantastic to have Andrew as a member of the Resource Economics family.
Andrew was nominated for his attention to detail, his willingness to go beyond what is expected, and his devotion to the students, whether in a review session or in one-on-one sessions. His faculty supervisors for the past academic year all characterized his work as meticulous! Andrew gave more than was asked – always offering insightful and helpful comments about exams, problem sets, and even the 4+1 graduate program! He was also an undergraduate research assistant for Dr. Sheila Mammen and she characterized him as ”… truly, absolutely, marvelously terrific!”
Andrew, for your commitment to our students and our instructional programs, we are delighted to honor you with a Vijay Bhagavan Teaching Assistant of Distinction Award.
2017: Jung Hwan Koh (PhD Candidate). Jung is from South Korea. After completing an M.S. in Hospitality & Tourism Management at Purdue University, he came to UMass and started the Ph. D. program in the Department of Hospitality and Tourism Management. While there, he had been a TA for several courses before entering the Resource Economics Ph. D. program in Spring 2013. Jung has amassed extensive experience both as a statistics TA and primary instructor since joining the department. In 2013 and 2014, he was Emily Wang’s TA for Res Ec 212. Between 2016 and 2018, he was (is) Jamie Mullin’s and Bernie Morzuch’s TA for Res Ec 213. In 2017, he was Wayne Gayle’s TA for Res Ec 212. Furthermore, in 2015 and 2016, he was the primary instructor for two Res Ec 212 Residential Academic Program (RAP) courses.
Prior to Res Ec 212 being taught in its current team-based-learning format, a perennial talking point among faculty who have taught Res Ec 212 and Res Ec 213 has been the need to make statistics discussions more productive by getting students actively involved. Jung has moved us in this direction by developing team-based learning techniques for Res Ec 213. His long involvement with our statistics courses, devotion to his students, and interest in making discussions a more rewarding experience by promoting active participation make Jung truly deserving of the Vijay Bhagavan Teaching-Assistant- of-Distinction Award.
2016: Abdul Kidwai (PhD Candidate). Abdul joined our PhD program in September 2012. He comes to us from Aligarh, India, where he earned a BA in Economics from Aligarh Muslim University and an MA in Development Studies from the Tata Institute of Social Sciences. Abdul earned our 2015 Harper Fellowship Award.
Abdul has been both a Teaching Assistant and a Teaching Associate. He exemplifies the characteristics we loved in Vijay and honor each year. His teaching evaluations have been outstanding and he has quickly become one of our top instructors. Students acknowledge the effort he makes to bring global issues of equity and justice to his teaching and appreciate his efforts to challenge them to think critically about these issues. Abdul focuses on pushing students to a higher level of learning. One student wrote: “I really enjoyed how this instructor encouraged us to think critically about the articles/topics.” Abdul engages well with students drawing them into conversations about topics they may not have thought about, and doing it in a way the students appreciated: “This class became something I looked forward to because the instructor seemed invested in his work. He made us feel the topic of Hunger in the Global Economy was very important. This made me eager to learn and I found this class to always be interesting.” And, “Great professor. He is passionate about what he teaches, which in turn engages me…”
Abdul has made tremendous contributions to our teaching and as a member of our community. Congratulations Abdul and our sincere thanks for your work here in Resource Economics. We agree with the students who wrote: “I like Abdul he’s a cool dude teaching very passionately.” And, “Keep teaching!”
2016: Alyssa Danilow (PhD Candidate). Alyssa is from the western Massachusetts town of West Springfield. She earned a BA in Economics from Westfield State University and joined our MS program fall 2015. Alyssa quickly became one of our top young scholars and was accepted to our PhD program the following year. Alyssa is now working with Professor Julie Caswell on food safety research and has interests in environmental economics.
Alyssa also joined our statistics team when she arrived fall 2015 and has taken a leadership role in managing and supporting our large stats course. One of our top student scholars, Alyssa brings a calm and quiet confidence to her work with students during our team-based learning classes and supported-work environment sessions. She has been identified by students as an understanding and extremely helpful TA in that course. In addition to the students’ praise, she has earned the respect of instructors as an invaluable course administrator managing a number of important components from day-to-day email exchanges with students on stats questions to the online homework system. Alyssa has worked efficiently and tirelessly throughout the year to improve the student experience in Resource Economics. Thanks Alyssa!
2015: Tyler Besse (MS Candidate). Tyler is a Massachusetts scholar from the Town of Lenox. Tyler earned his BS degree in Resource Economics and has completed all his requirements for the MS degree in Resource Economics. Tyler very quickly became an integral part of our efforts to redesign our large lecture introductory statistics course to a blended online/team-based learning (TBL) format. Tyler worked during the summer of 2014 organizing course materials and researching TBL methods. Tyler worked closely with the course instructors during fall 2014 to complete the redesign and took on the tasks of developing the course learning management system and creating a number of instructional videos for students on the use of Excel for data analysis. During summer 2015, Tyler accepted the additional responsibility of creating Online Web-based Learning exercises for the course. His important contributions have allowed all our teaching assistants to focus on helping students rather than grading in-class work and homework. Tyler completed his MS essay research on teaching and learning estimating the effects of different course components on student learning. Tyler was an important member of the team that took on redesigning how we teach statistics and was an indispensable member of our stats team accepting key organizational and administrative jobs. He has made important contributions to the Department’s teaching mission. We will always remember your dedication to the Department and commitment to our educational goals! Thanks Tyler, and congratulations!
2015: Eric Koegler (MS Candidate). Eric is a Commonwealth scholar hailing from Littleton, Massachusetts. Eric has been with the Department for both his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees. He is currently completing his MS Thesis on solar energy working with Dr. Christine Crago. We have been incredibly fortunate to have Eric with us for these past 6 years. His keen intellect and command of statistics led us to employ him as an undergraduate teaching assistant while he was completing his BS degree. Eric was a shining star in small discussion section classrooms as indicated by his outstanding teaching evaluation. Students valued his incredible energy, his command of the topics and his commitment to the students. Eric took his teaching assistant positions seriously and does a fantastic job leading discussion sections and working with students one-on-one and in small groups. Eric took his responsibilities further and offered ideas to make the student experience better. He thinks about teaching and relates his teaching to his experiences as a student and his teaching can be made better. As a member of the stats redesign team his intellect and commitment brought much to the Department efforts and ensured success. Thanks Eric for your dedication as a TA to the Department’s work done and our students’ successes in the classroom. Thanks for your willingness to go well beyond what we expected making important contributions to our teaching methods. Congratulations!
2015: Kelly Hellman (PhD Candidate). Kelly, from Rochester, NY, joined the Department after completing BA and MS degrees at Rochester Institute of Technology. With a BA in Economics and an MS in Environmental Studies, Kelly quickly became one of our top PhD scholars in the Department. Kelly is especially passionate about econometrics and statistics. She worked with us as a teaching assistant in our large lecture courses, teaching small discussion sections. Kelly has also worked with us to redesign our large lecture stats course through the summer of 2014 and fall 2015. She was an integral part of our team focusing on curriculum development and team activities for the classroom. Her previous experience teaching discussion sections gave her great insights into the intersection of course curriculum development and student learning. As a teaching assistant for our large lecture introductory statistics courses she earned excellent teaching evaluations. Students lauded her commitment to them and her understanding of difficult statistical concepts. They appreciated her willingness to work one-on-one with them to help them succeed. Watching Kelly work with students during office hours or during a team-based learning classroom activity, it is clear that she brings her keen understanding of the topics to the students and pushes them to learn with a kind and incredibly patient style. Kelly understanding of statistics made her a great candidate to teach her own section of introductory statistics, which she did during spring 2015. Kelly was demanding of the students, required much of them through applications in computer labs and through a required term project. Her tireless efforts were appreciated by the students. They commended her ability to make the subject, one that they found difficult, fun and a good learning experience. Students commented that Kelly was approachable, cheerful, helpful, and caring. Thanks for your many contributions to our stats and now introductory microeconomics teaching! Congratulations!
2014: Irene Mussio (PhD Candidate). Irene came to UMass from Universidad de la República Uruguay where she was a Research Assistant. Prior to that, Irene taught microeconomics and game theory at Universidad Catolica del Uruguay. Irene received her Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Universidad de la República Uruguay and her Master’s degree, also in Economics, from Universidad de Montevideo. Irene joined the department to pursue her PhD in environmental economics and experimental economics. She is conducting research with Dr. Angela de Oliveira on social networks and experimental economics. Her dissertation research will focus on social networks, the diffusion of information and environmental health.
Irene became a teaching assistant for our introductory statistics course when she arrived here and has worked on helping students appreciate the world of statistics and econometrics since that fall. When Brent Dickinson nominated Irene he wrote: “Her eye for detail, work ethic, and leadership maker her the ideal team member. She really held everything together for us this semester. I seek her advice and find her input valuable.” Brent used many other words in his glowing nomination including linchpin, indispensable, duct tape and WD40, emphasizing that these were compliments! Those of us who walk the halls of Stockbridge know well Irene’s appeal to the students. It is common to see her leading office hours with a host of students gathered around the tables. Irene is a tough, no nonsense instructor. She is the perfect recipient of the Vijay award in that she has the same “No BS attitude,” but has a heart of gold and a soft spot for the students. We’ll keep that last part a well-guarded secret – we need her to keep the students inline! Congratulations Irene! Thanks for your many contributions to the students and the Department.
2014: Elizabeth Hunter (MS Candidate). Elizabeth is a Massachusetts scholar from the wonderful little town of Shutesbury just east of Amherst. Elizabeth earned her Bachelor’s degree in Economics at the University of Massachusetts. Following that degree, she taught at the Ministry of Education and Science of Georgia in Vashlovani, Georgia. Elizabeth joined us fall 2013 and is finishing her MS thesis research on consumer energy consumption responses to information and incentives. Never has an MS student worked so hard for data. Elizabeth scaled and dug through many great snow banks this past winter to get to the instruments that recorded electricity use. This summer she’ll present her research at regional and national conferences.
Elizabeth was a valued teaching assistant for our introductory microeconomics courses. Professor Nathalie Lavoie was effusive in her praise for Elizabeth’s efficiency and commitment to the course. Elizabeth attacked her duties with enthusiasm and invested heavily offering Nathalie comments and suggestions to encourage better student performances. Elizabeth searched websites and newspapers for new applications of the main concepts in the course that she would bring to illustrate microeconomics in our world. When grading out-of-class assignments like Micro Rocks (finding microeconomics in rock songs), Elizabeth would bring new and interesting finds to Nathalie to be used as classroom examples. Elizabeth’s understanding of the course material was so strong, she often looked for more challenging examples and applications to bring to the class. Elizabeth also used her experience and enthusiasm to develop an online version of the introductory microeconomics course. Elizabeth’s commitment to her work as a teaching assistant and her dedication to the students, and the Department, make her a perfect choice for the Vijay Teaching Assistant of Distinction Award. Elizabeth is truly a distinguished teaching assistant who brought great energy to her work.
2013: Adam Baddeley (MSc Candidate). Adam originally hails from New Hampshire, but most recently lived in the Boston area. Adam received his undergraduate degree from Bentley University in Economics and Finance. After finishing his degree, Adam started working towards becoming a special education teacher and worked as a special education aide in public schools for several years before joining the MS program in fall 2012. Adam joined the Department with interests in natural resources and sustainability but has also become interested in the health industry and is currently working with Dr. Sheila Mammen.
Adam became a teaching assistant for our introductory statistics course when he arrived here and has worked on helping students appreciate the world of statistics since that fall. Adam has been a top TA from day 1. He has been a constant force at evening office hours working tirelessly with students. When the Department was in need of additional help during fall 2013, Adam volunteered to take on additional discussions and hours. This spring, he moved up to teach a section of the introductory statistics course in the Residential Academic Program. Adam clearly represents those characteristics we loved in Vijay.
2013: Francesca Colantuoni (PhD Candidate). Francesca joined us from Napoli, Italy, in 2009 after completing her BS degree in Agricultural Sciences and Technology and her MS degree in Agricultural Economics and Policy in Italy. Upon joining our department, Francesca began studying toward a Ph.D. with a major field in Industrial Organization, and a minor field in Applied Econometrics. Francesca successfully defended her dissertation on April 9 and will leave the Department for a job with Ernst & Young in New York City this summer. Francesca is the 2012 Carolyn Harper Fellowship Recipient and has been a leading scholar in the Department. She has regularly participated in presenting papers at national conferences. During the time that she has been working on her research, she has regularly taught a Residential Academic Programs course on introductory microeconomics. Francesca was among our top four instructors based on student evaluation scores this past fall for all Department undergraduate courses. Her efforts were recognized by students as she was honored with a Distinguished Teacher Award nomination. The DTA is the highest honor for teachers here at UMass and is a student-driven award. Her nomination reflects student appreciation for her efforts, and the Department is delighted to be able to recognize her dedication to teaching and service to the Department with a Vijay Bhagavan Award.
2012: Christopher Podkowka. Chris worked with Professor Nathalie Lavoie during the past two years as a TA for her junior/senior industrial organization course. In addition, Chris worked with Nathalie during January 2012 to improve the course. Chris handled the many grading components of the course including reading students homework papers, students’ writings about industrial organization articles they found in the Wall Street Journal and students’ exams. Chris also helped Nathalie run this large course (nearly 100 students) smoothly each day from trouble shooting computer technology and managing students’ use of their audience response clickers. Nathalie writes that Chris has been “… one of most dedicated, self-motivated, independent, and efficient TAs I’ve had. He is always in class 10 minutes before the start and I know I can count on him to set up the gazillion items of technology in time for class … regardless of how little time I give him …He always returns graded items faster than I would expect, and well done. This fall, after grading the midterm exam, he wrote down his thoughts on how to improve a returning question on the midterm exam, which I implemented this year. In January, he helped me streamline and organize a bank of homework questions, answer keys and grading keys. He is very much invested in the course, and has helped me focus more on the course content than its administration. A plus for the students and for me.” Chris clearly exemplifies Vijay’s motto: “No problem!”
2011: Jonathan Farland and Scott Magnoni
2010: Christopher Burns and Bilal Janjua
2009: Brenton Sellati
2008: Linus Nyiwul
2007: Nikolaos Zirogiannis and Leah Shen
2006: Hillary Gelardi
2005: Chunxiang (Lisa) Li
2004: Michael Kruzewski
2003: Michael Salemme
2002: Sirisha Naidu
2001: Peter Manolakos
2000: Erin Mastrangelo and Sarah White
1999: Carlos Chavez-Rebolledo
1998: Juan Camilo Cardenas