Alumni traveled back to Gainesville on Friday to be honored at the 10th Outstanding Young Alumni Awards.
In Emerson Hall, about 100 UF faculty and family watched as 21 UF alumni received awards for success in their respective fields. Among those honored were an actor from an upcoming Netflix series, a public relations manager for McDonald’s and a senior managing director for Teach for America.
UF’s colleges and the Division of Student Affairs nominated the alumni. Last year, UF awarded about 23 alumni.
Joseph Wilson, one of two alumni nominated by the Division of Student Affairs, said the division nominated him for his work advocating for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics education in low-income communities as well as partnering with LGBTQ+ organizations.
Wilson said he was honored to be included with the other successful alumni.
“I felt incredibly humbled,” the 31-year-old said.
While at UF, Wilson was a Lombardi Scholar, a J. Wayne Reitz Scholar and an honors ambassador. He graduated from UF in 2007 with a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering and went to Arizona to teach high school science for Teach for America.
Now, he said he directs about 3,500 math, science and computer science teachers across 53 regions of the U.S. for Teach for America.
“The experience of teaching really informed my life-long passion of STEM education,” he said. “I wanted to be able to use engineering for good.”
He said he enjoyed networking with other successful alumni. Some worked with the same people he did.
“I felt like it was two degrees of separation,”he said.
UF’s College of the Arts nominated Usman Ally, an actor who is currently filming a recurring role on the upcoming first season of Netflix’s “A Series of Unfortunate Events.” He has previously acted in the plays “The Jungle Book” and “The Invisible Hand,” along with playing a recurring role in the television show “Madam Secretary” and guest roles in “Castle” and “Person of Interest.”
Ally, who graduated from UF in 2007 with a master’s degree in fine arts, said coming back to UF felt like being part of a community. Seeing his old professors reminded him of his college days.
“Those are people that shape the beginnings of your career in some ways,” he said. “I feel very fortunate to be back.”
While walking around UF, he said he wasn’t surprised to see the same scooters students used almost 10 years ago.
“That hasn’t changed at all,” the 33-year-old said.
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